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Chapter Text

Clark thought Metamorpho was an alien when he first saw him. It wasn’t until Rex had been holding him under his kryptonite hand for awhile that he realized Lex hadn’t said he kept aliens here. Metahumans, other countries’ prisoners, and people who had wronged Lex personally, but not aliens. Of course, what Lex said didn’t mean anything. Clark couldn’t trust a thing he said. Even if he could, that didn’t mean there weren’t aliens here. It just meant Lex hadn’t mentioned it.

But Rex was a human name. He felt human, even if Superman couldn’t feel much more than the absolute, all-consuming pain his fellow prisoner was inflicting upon him. There was a reason he’d taken measures to get Kryptonite off the planet. He could feel it inside him, could see it leaving dark patterns on his hands. It stretched out from his chest, he knew, spreading from the spot over his heart over the rest of his skin. He could feel it moving, creeping closer and closer to his fingertips, the markings burning his blood and bones beneath his skin.

He was not used to pain, not when so few things could hurt him. Krypto’s nipping at his feet was the only real thing that hurt him all that often. Maybe taking care of him desensitized him a bit, but no amount of exposure therapy could get him to the point where kryptonite didn’t feel like this.

Still, long enough exposure and his mind wouldn’t remain solely latched onto the pain. He could still see and hear everything around him. Most of what he could see and hear were the glass-like boxes that filled the space and kept him and Rex contained. Countless other prisoners stood in twin lines of cages running as far as Clark could see when he managed to get his head in the right direction. They were tightly packed, a filled cell in every direction of Clark’s own prison, but he was too weak to try to get a good look at any of his prisoners.

He’d fallen facing outward, giving him a view of the line of cells parallel to his own. A cage with a green baby held in the hands of a burly man sat across from him. Clark couldn’t see Rex at this angle, but he knew he was looking at them. Even with the kryptonite dulling his superhearing, Rex’s presence filled his senses. He was the only thing around him, really. Maybe the pain made Clark more sensitive, but he was hyperaware of every movement Rex made.

When Lex shot Mali, it was that same awareness that told him that Rex was crying.

Weeping might be a better word. It was audible but quiet. Clark still couldn’t see him, but it was a passing thought. Tears prickled in his own eyes, something in his throat going thick, and he felt a sort of kinship with Rex in the moment, despite the pain he was still inflicting upon him. They’d seen a terrible thing, and they would share this moment, this aftermath, together.

“I didn’t do anything. He killed him right in front of me, and I didn’t do anything.”

That was the moment Clark knew Rex was human. Sure, an alien could feel the same empathy for life– Clark sure did– but still, he knew. It made him wonder who this man was. There were people on either side of them who definitely saw what they had, but they weren’t having the reaction to Mali’s death that Rex was having. Clark didn’t fault them for it. Maybe they’d been here longer and had grown used to these sorts of things. Maybe they hadn’t been watching, shielding their eyes from the inevitable. Clark didn’t know, and it didn’t matter. He wanted to know why it mattered for Rex.

He hadn’t wanted to hurt Clark, that was clear. He cared for his son and would do whatever he had to in order to keep him safe. Still, he’d lashed out when Clark tried to convince him to let him help. He’d given up, in a way, but maybe it was inconsiderate to make a claim as bold as that one. Superman could always get back up. Not everyone else could. There were hundreds of people here, hundreds of people who couldn’t fight back, and Rex wasn’t different from them just because he was a metahuman.

Yet, he seemed to believe he was. He believed he was the kind of person who would do something in a situation like this. And he broke just a little bit more when that belief failed to be true.

“You said you could save my son?”

Over the next few minutes, things changed very rapidly. The pain went away for one, dulling from agony to a deep, intense ache. Then Rex was making a sun, and the ache melted away, not completely but enough for Clark to do what he needed to do.

It felt like the momentum from defeating the Raptors, saving Krypto, and protecting Joey from the black hole would have carried him into the next thing, but it didn’t. They weren’t in danger anymore, but they were just kind of… done. There were no more enemies, no portal out of here, no allies coming to their rescue. They were just kind of there, floating in a ravine of dark crystal walls, stuck in this pocket dimension without any idea where to go.

“Do you remember where you entered?” Clark asked, knowing it was a long shot. Rex shook his head.

“Prisoners are usually put directly into the cells,” Rex told him, and Clark nodded along. That was what happened to him, after all. “Lex usually enters from somewhere else, though, and Fleurette said that Lex uses the pocket dimension for other stuff, so there are probably other entry points.”

“Fleurette?” Clark echoed. The name wasn’t familiar. Was that someone he should know? Had Lex captured another superhero?

“The, um, woman in the cell next to us,” Rex explained, glancing back in the direction they’d come from, where the cells awaited. “The one in the pink dress. She’s Lex’s ex.”

“The one who yelled for the Raptors?”

Rex shrugged, looking utterly unbothered. “There were only so many people to talk to. She was nicer than the guy on the other side. It’s scary here. I don’t blame her.”

Again, Clark wondered what kind of man Rex was. He felt guilty for not stopping Lex from shooting Mali, and he forgave his fellow prisoner for trying to rat him out. And he was a metahuman with a metahuman son, one with the power to create both kryptonite and a mini sun, but Clark was more interested in the other stuff.

Krypto barked and started flying off. It took Clark’s brain a moment to react and call after him. “Krypto! Dude! Krypto! Get back here!”

“He has the right idea,” Rex pointed out. “We should look around. There might be more Raptors.”

There weren’t, but they still got a sense for the place. They knew where the rows of prison cells were and the spot Krypto had been imprisoned, of course, but there were three other main hubs: the monkeys, the portal platform, and some kind of Raptor break room.

“Let’s free the monkeys first,” Clark suggested once they’d identified all the main spots.

“They’re just going to fall into the river,” Rex pointed out, and Clark felt his resolve weaken a bit, but he didn’t let that stop him.

“They’re smart enough to come up with Supershit. They’re smart enough to stay on their platforms. They’re prisoners too. We can’t just leave them.”

Rex started moving, flying after Clark, but he still seemed uncertain. “There are hundreds of prisoners in the prison block. You can’t free all of them.”

“Why not?”

“There isn’t a lot of ground here, and that break room’s designed only for a couple dozen people. There’s nowhere to put them all.”

Clark pictured it as he and Rex started unhooking the monkeys from the computers. If he got a few people out, there would still be hundreds of people stuck in their cells. He could break down some walls and have a more open concept, something more like the structure that Krypto was playfully chasing the monkeys through, but Clark was a journalist, not an architect. He didn’t know if the prison structure would collapse if he damaged it. 

There were no good answers here. They investigated the portal hub and realized there weren’t really ways to operate it from the inside, or at least Rex and Clark weren’t techy enough to figure it out. There’d been more staff around before, if Clark recalled correctly, but the place seemed empty. They must have had some way to get out, but Clark didn’t have the faintest idea where to begin on figuring it out.

“We can ask around the prison cells. Bound to be someone who used to work for LexCorp,” Clark suggested, and Rex nodded in agreement, but when they returned to the cells, they just floated back into their own and settled down. They’d freed themselves from their cell, but Clark didn’t have to ask to know that neither he nor Rex had much hope of doing much more than that. They were going to be stuck here for a bit.

Chapter Text

When Rex arrived in the pocket dimension, Fleurette explained that time worked a little bit differently here. It’d been a comfort at the time to know he didn’t have to worry about Joey starving or getting a rash from a dirty diaper when he was in that strange man’s custody. He was still grateful he didn’t have to worry about such things, but it was hard to cling to that gratitude. Timelessness was a hellscape. Especially in an empty cell with mostly criminals to talk to.

Rex gave Clark roughly the same spiel about the time distortion that Fleurette had given him upon arrival.

“See, look, the cells are empty. Nowhere to bring in food, no toilets either,” Rex explained, gesturing to the row of cells across from their own. His own cell, the one he shared with Superman, had a stool in it, and that was a lot more than most of the prisoners had. A reward for cooperation, Rex assumed, even if such things wouldn’t incentivize him any more than fear for his son’s safety.

“That’s…” Superman trailed off. Rex could imagine how he was going to finish the thought. It was pretty gross, and Rex didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it.

“It’s probably why you’re not healing,” Rex told him, steering the trajectory of the conversation away from bathroom talk. He’d had enough of that when Joey was born, arguing with Sapph about who was changing the baby when. Oh, he longed for those days. The thought wasn’t much of a comfort, though, so he shook the memories away and remained focused on the conversation at hand. “You still look like shit.”

It was a pale echo of his old self. The old Rex was charming, or so he was told. He agreed with it. He used to be confident, able to be friends with anyone he met, and fit right into whatever space or group of people he found himself in. If he said someone looked like shit, it got a laugh. Now, hearing himself say it, it just sounded sort of mean.

Superman didn’t seem to mind, though. He laughed, but it sounded like it was directed more inward rather than out of actual humor. “I bet. I feel like it. That fight with the Raptors didn’t help.”

Rex felt a stab of guilt. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Superman said and looked down. He was holding baby Joey, Krypto having claimed Rex’s lap for himself. Rex could have turned into a liquid or gas to free himself, but he found he didn’t mind his and Superman’s little swap. As much as he wanted to hold his son, he’d trusted Superman to hold him during their escape attempt, and that hadn’t changed just because they weren’t in danger anymore. Plus, a lot of time had passed already, and the novelty of having his son back was wearing off a bit. Joey fussed after a while, and passing him off seemed to settle him a bit.

“Lex made me do it, but I still did it,” Rex said, trying to make his voice firm. Did he sound insecure? He felt like he sounded insecure. He tried to smile. “Let me have this.”

Superman made a motion Rex couldn’t name, but he knew it was acceptance, more or less. “If time’s not passing, what do you do all day?”

“There is no day. Or night. It’s just kind of the same always.”

“Quit being a bummer,” Fleurette said from the next cell over. She leaned against the glass, one arm propped up on the wall separating their cells, and looked in at them from under the crook of her arm. “The time thing keeps us from going crazy from boredom. We think, anyway. Lotta theories going around, lotta people who’ve been here longer than we have. Kind of like a big game of telephone with all of us here, but we make do.”

Superman had a look on his face that seemed almost calculating. He wanted to say something, but he was biting his tongue. Rex knew it, and he was sure Fleurette knew it, but neither of them commented on it.

“We should fly around,” Rex said, and Krypto hopped off his lap, letting Rex stand up. Had he recognized the word fly, like how regular dogs knew the word walk? “Keep an eye on the places we know portals are. Lex should be coming back soon with that reporter. We just need to be there when he does.”

Superman opened his mouth, then closed it again, expression settling into a sort of grimace. Rex watched him, waiting for him to voice his thoughts, but Superman seemed to decide against saying whatever it was he was going to say. Instead, he rose, Joey still in his arms, and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

They flew somewhat slowly. Rex wasn’t as fast as Superman, and they weren’t in a hurry like they’d been before. There was no reason to be jostling Joey around, not when he seemed happy to be in the air. It was cute, and Rex found himself paying more attention to his son’s reactions to the world around him than the actual world around them. But once Joey’s excitement dulled into a more general wonder, Rex looked up and realized they weren’t really flying in the direction of the portal system. “Um, Superman? This isn’t…”

“I know,” Superman said, and there was something in his voice that Rex couldn’t identify. He stayed quiet for a bit, and Rex didn’t know if he was thinking or expecting him to talk. Superman spoke again before he could figure it out. “I don’t think Lex is coming back for awhile.”

“Why not? You heard everything I did. He wanted to question you, but the gun went off too soon. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to wait around. He’s just going to get that next person and come back. And he’s already got someone picked out, so it shouldn’t be too long.”

“I know, I know. It’s just, Lex isn’t going to find him,” Superman told him, stopping to hover in the empty space over the rushing anti-proton river below them. He looked… strained? Rex wasn’t sure. “I’m Clark Kent.”

“Who?”

“The reporter. The guy Lex said he’s going to bring here,” Superman explained, sounding frustrated, but Rex could tell it wasn’t directed at him. “He’s going after my secret identity. He’s not going to find him because he’s me and I’m here.”

Rex could feel his mind working it out. “You write articles about yourself? That’s terribly unethical.”

“Lois says the same thing,” Superman– Clark– groaned, and Rex didn’t know who he was talking about. Should he? No, it was crazy to expect he’d know someone by just their first name. It didn’t matter. Point was they were going to be stuck here for a bit. “There are other people Lex can go after, but I don’t think he would after saying he’s going to grab someone specific.”

“It’s not just Lex who comes here. The Raptors…” Rex started but trailed off, feeling himself lose hope as he said it. He had no idea when the Raptors came and went. They didn’t actually see them all that often, and Rex didn’t know if that was because of the time warpage or just because the pocket dimension was too big for any one prisoner to see the Raptors consistently. Even if a squad was coming soon, there wasn’t a sure chance that he and Superman would be able to use their entry to escape. “We could camp out at the portal.”

“And just hold Joey the whole time? Even if it was just a couple of hours, I think that’d be a lot. I’m sure he needs to crawl around and stuff.”

“He’s six months old. He’s not crawling yet. He can barely roll over.”

“Oh.” Clark looked down at Joey, then back up at Rex. “I haven’t been around a lot of babies.”

“It’s fine.” Maybe he shouldn’t be having Clark hold his son so much? At least not without some basic baby holding lessons. Then again, Joey seemed fine after the fight. He had some of Rex’s mutation. Maybe that made him a little sturdier than other babies? They should still visit a doctor when they got back to their dimension, whenever that happened. “I wouldn’t mind letting Fleurette watch him. We’d have to break the glass, though, but she can’t fly, so I don’t know if she’d want that.”

Clark gave him a doubtful look. “Again, didn’t she try to rat us out to the Raptors? Sorry, I know most of the people here are criminals. She’s probably the best option for a babysitter.”

“I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought she’d hurt him,” Rex told him as they turned and started flying back toward the cells.

“Yeah,” Clark hummed, sounding a little distant. “We might be here for a really long time, though.”

“Yeah,” Rex agreed, some of the fears he’d suppressed during his time here bubbling up. “I don’t know how long we’ve been here, but I know he won’t age. I know he won’t remember this place, and I’m not going to raise him here, but…”

Rex trailed off, not knowing where he was going with the thought. He felt Clark put a hand on his shoulder, only he was in his gaseous form, so it went right through him. Rex turned to look at him, catching Clark’s look of surprise as he pulled his hand back. “Sorry. Does it hurt when I do that?”

Rex shook his head. “No. It’s kind of weird, but it doesn’t hurt. But I know what you meant. Thanks.”

Clark nodded his head ever so slightly. “We won’t be here forever. Lex isn’t just going to leave me alone. We’ll escape and get you and Joey out of here. It might be awhile, but we’ll do it. And we’ll keep Joey safe until then. I promise.”

Rex hadn’t been a big Superman fan before now. He didn’t dislike him, he just wasn’t a fan. Didn’t see the appeal, didn’t keep up with his exploits, couldn’t get caught up in the excitement. After all, he was a mutant and could do wilder things. But right now, Superman holding his son and looking at him with such honest conviction, he got it. Whatever uncertainties he had about this place and fears about Joey’s safety continued to plague him, there were few better people Rex could have at his side.

Chapter Text

“Lex killed my wife.”

Rex’s words were so unexpected that Clark nearly stopped flying. If they were walking, he probably would have stumbled, but being in his Superman persona made it a little easier to keep his composure, even if he wasn’t trying all that hard to maintain it by this point. Still, he turned to look at Rex and tried to convey his sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

Rex shrugged, which looked a little weird with half his body turned to gas. He didn’t say anything.

They were on one of their regular fly-arounds, no Joey or Krypto this time. Clark didn’t think they were going to see any Raptors this time, and he doubted Rex had much hope either. They still did these fly-arounds, though. Clark felt a little guilty that he could leave the cells when the other prisoners couldn’t, but he thought he might go insane if he just had to sit in there all the time. Fleurette had said the time distortion kept the lack of stimulation from affecting their minds all that much, but Clark still got bored.

The pocket dimension was pretty. Not in a way Clark hadn’t seen before in all his adventures, but still pretty. The sky wasn’t really a sky, it had a limit, but the distorted red hues made it look more like the skies on alien worlds than anything on Earth. The anti-proton river, even if Clark didn’t want to go anywhere near it again, had a similar, more concentrated effect. The whirling colors of both stood in stark contrast to the black, rectangular, crystalline mass that made up the ground around the space. It gave him and Rex something to look at, even if it was hard to appreciate, given their imprisonment. An excuse to get out and fly.

Clark had told Rex a bit about himself on these fly-arounds. Rex knew his secret identity, so there wasn’t much reason to hide his origin story or not tell Rex about his day-to-day at the Daily Planet. It gave them something to talk about, but Rex hadn’t volunteered much about himself, not yet at least. Clark could feel his heart pounding in his chest when Rex started talking, excited at the prospect of finally opening the doors to this part of their companionship, but he forced his expression to remain somber. As much as he wanted to know more about Rex, this wasn’t how he expected that conversation to start.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Clark told him, and he meant it. Rex shook his head.

“No, I want to,” Rex insisted. “It’s been… Well, I don’t know how long it’s been. But I think it’s been long enough.”

Clark nodded encouragingly, continuing to float forward as Rex collected his thoughts.

“I worked for her dad. Not- I was doing freelance work at the time. He actually hired me after I’d been dating Sapph for awhile. He didn’t like me, but he wanted what was best for his daughter, so it must’ve made some sense in his head. I was—I am— an archeologist, and I was in the military before that, so these billionaires would hire me to go on these dangerous adventures to collect artifacts for their collections. I didn’t actually see Sapph that much, but when I did, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.”

Archeologist? Military? Clark hadn’t pegged Rex for the type. And “collecting” artifacts for billionaires? Rex had joked about Clark’s ethics when he learned he was writing articles about himself, but this seemed like a whole different kind of ethical issue. He wasn’t going to point it out, though, not right now at least. A topic for another time.

Rex’s eyes remained on the non-existent horizon and didn’t seem to notice anything shift in Clark’s demeanor. “Sapphire is- was… She was beautiful. Most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I was… That was the kind of thing I cared about back then. But when we started spending more time together, and then when she started joining me on my jobs, I saw this whole other side of her.”

That was sort of how he’d felt about Lois. Right off the bat, anyone could tell how attractive she was. But once you got to know her? After you started working with her? She didn’t become a different person. More of a person maybe? Clark supposed you could say that about anyone, that you realized how deep and complex they were once you really talked to them a bit, but Clark didn’t feel like that alone could capture everything that was Lois.

“We were just having fun at first, but once we knew it was something real… She’s all or nothing. Even when I mutated, when I started looking like this, she never stopped putting her all into us. When the Raptors came for Joey, she tried to protect him. She tried to fight them, and that’s why… She fought them even though I should have been the one protecting them.”

Oh. Oh . What Rex had said after Mali’s death was making a little more sense. Clark wanted to reach out, give him some kind of touch of comfort, but they’d been doing this long enough that he knew he couldn’t touch Rex when he was flying. He didn’t know what to say if he couldn’t touch him, though.

Rex’s head jerked, and Clark realized he’d waited too long to say anything. Rex was closing off again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say all that. That was a lot to just dump on you.”

“No, no. It’s okay. I wanted to hear it. It’s… I’ve never been anything close to married. I can’t imagine what you went through. Or, um, what you’re still going through.”

Rex’s gaze dragged back toward the direction the cells awaited. “We should head back. I feel bad leaving Joey with Fleurette for too long.”

Clark interpreted that as Rex just missing his baby. He didn’t argue.

Clark didn’t know how long he’d been here. At least a week, he thought. A few months at the most. He really, truly had no idea. But, it’d been long enough without hope of escape that a baby setup was needed. The wall dividing Rex and Fleurette’s cells was carefully broken down, and Clark had retrieved some items from the Raptors’ breakroom to fill in the expanded cell a little more. Something to put the baby on was a must, and a couch was brought in. A rug was put on the floor, allowing them to put Joey down for some floor time if needed, and Clark used the rest of the furniture to block off the hole he’d made during his and Rex’s initial escape. There was too much risk of someone falling out of the cells. It was why they’d combined Rex and Fleurette’s cells instead of knocking a hole in the front of Fleurette’s.

“Have fun?” Fleurette called out to them when she saw Clark and Rex approaching. Rex entered first, twisting back into his usual form once he crossed the barrier Clark had put by the makeshift door. He held out his hands and easily accepted Joey back into his arms.

“It was alright,” Clark told her when he realized Rex wasn’t going to respond. The guy wasn’t a great conversationalist, but Clark wasn’t bothered by it. “Nothing new. Krypto’s playing with the monkeys again. He’s being a little gentler, so I don’t think we have to worry too much about them getting hurt anymore.”

Fleurette nodded, but Clark didn’t think she really cared. “Take me back to the other cell?”

Clark held out a hand to steady her, and she climbed over the barrier toward the open space. He held onto her, wrapping one arm around her back for support. “You don’t have to go. The combined cell is more comfortable.”

She shook her head as Clark slowly floated to the cell across from his and Rex’s, the one that once contained baby Joey. Clark had smashed the front-facing wall of this one, too, but he hadn’t covered it as well as he had for Rex’s cell. He’d used his heat vision to fuse a table leg and a broom handle, creating a stick long enough to jam into the frame and block it off. It wasn’t a real barrier, and Krypto stole it to chew on from time to time, but it gave the illusion of safety, and that was enough for Fleurette, apparently.

“Three people, a baby, and a dog are way too much for just two cells,” she told him as he set her down in the empty cell, “even if it’s got furniture. I get enough of it when you’re flying around. Let me have a little me time.”

“You don’t have to watch Joey when we ask,” Clark started, a frown creeping onto his face. “I can just hold him.”

Fleurette shook her head again. “That’s not what I meant. There are three cells, and there are three of us. This makes more sense. Besides, better neighbors over here.”

“Aw,” the prisoner in the cell to the left of Fleurette’s new cell chimed in. Fleurette rolled her eyes but didn’t look away from Clark.

Clark could follow the logic. He didn’t know how long she’d been here. The change of scenery was probably nice, and it wasn’t like she never hung out with Clark and Rex.

Rex was on the couch when he got back to their shared cell, curled up against the armrest. He had one arm around Joey, keeping him from falling off his lap. Clark landed a few feet away from him and looked around, trying to decide where to settle down. They still had the stool, but it wasn’t all that comfortable. The rug was more comfortable, but it was probably dirty. Then again, dirtiness wasn’t all that big of a concern here.

“You can sit on the couch,” Rex said, gesturing to the open spot beside him with his free hand. The couch wasn’t that big, one meant for an office space, probably, but there was enough space for Clark. Clark just felt kind of awkward about it.

“You sure?” he asked, moving forward. “I’m pretty big. I don’t want to squish Joey.”

Rex waved him off. “He likes you.”

“Really?” he asked as he sat. Joey reached out for him, a little uncoordinated, and Clark found himself smiling. “I feel like I don’t do enough.”

Rex gave him a look that Clark thought was surprise. “You don’t have to do anything. He’s not your kid.”

“I know,” Clark responded. He opened his mouth again to keep talking, but closed it again after a moment. He couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say. Yeah, Joey wasn’t his kid, and he really wasn’t having any of those parental feelings that he heard other people got around babies. Maybe Kryptonians didn’t have parenting instincts like humans? He’d thought his Kryptonian parents were similar to humans, but he wasn’t so sure anymore after Lex uncovered that message. Still, he felt something. Maybe it was the Superman in him that needed to protect, or the farm boy that always needed to be doing something.

“You’ve done plenty,” Rex went on, eyes on Joey, not Clark. Clark thought he was still watching him, though. He didn’t know him well enough to be able to tell that sort of thing yet, but it still felt like his attention was on Clark. “You carried Joey when we fought the Raptors, and before we got Fleurette to start watching him. And you baby-proofed the cell. I’d say that’s plenty.”

“That’s physical stuff. Babies need the mental stuff more, right? The emotional stuff.”

“He still needs the physical stuff. I can’t give him much here, so we’ll take whatever we can get. Besides, he’s a baby,” Rex deadpanned as Joey kept reaching for Clark, fingers just a few inches away from reaching his costume. “He doesn’t need a pat on the back or help with his homework. He just knows if you’re there or not, and you’ve definitely been there.”

Oh. Clark leaned back on the couch, relaxing into the cushion. It put his shoulder in range of Joey’s reach, and the baby began gently petting Clark’s arm. The smile that Clark hadn’t realized had dimmed returned, and he reached forward with his opposing hand, bringing his hand closer to Joey’s face. Joey reached up and grabbed his fingers, eyes lighting up now that he had something to play with.

Rex shifted, and Clark realized his shoulder had pushed into his when he reached over. Clark waited for a moment, trying to gauge if Rex was uncomfortable by the contact or not. He wasn’t sure if he touched Rex when he was solid. He must have, but all of his memories about it were when he accidentally put his hand through him when they were flying. Rex didn’t pull away, seemingly not minding and acting like he didn’t even notice Clark’s shoulder touch his. He’d just been getting more comfortable. The realization made Clark feel a little better, and he tried to follow suit.

His body normally didn’t ache from sitting for awhile, not like the ergonomics and posture class the Daily Planet made its employees take seemed to indicate was the norm for humans, but Clark still wasn’t feeling a hundred percent after the kryptonite, even if it felt like enough time had passed for him to recover. He shifted, the support from the couch and the shoulder to lean on relieving some of the strain on his body. Joey giggled as he wrapped his little hands around Clark’s index finger, and Clark let himself just enjoy the moment next to Rex.

Chapter Text

One day, when preparing to go on another patrol around the pocket dimension, Superman stepped out of the cell to take off and fell almost immediately.

From her cell across the prison block, Fleurette shrieked. It caught the attention of other prisoners, and they all began shouting. Rex couldn’t make out what they were saying, whether they were cries of alarm or delightful jeers at Superman’s imminent demise. It didn’t matter. He turned, put Joey down on the couch, the safest spot he could manage, and dove after him.

Legs into helium, letting him float, arms into… carbon. And hydrogen. Careful to get the balance right. Add in the other elements as needed. He needed them to be strong but flexible. It only took a few seconds to create the right polymer, but a few seconds was too long. Clark was falling. 

Rex’s arms snaked out, splitting into tendrils, and they made contact with Clark’s cape. They coiled down it, seeking purchase on Clark’s body. Rex built up more mass in his chest, pushing it down his arms to make them stretch just a little bit more. The tips snaked over Clark’s suit, thickening and wrapping around his body. Rex felt a flash of something, hope flaring as he got a good grip, when his body suddenly jerked, and Clark’s weight was dragging him down with him.

Rex couldn’t see Clark’s face from here. He was falling face down. He didn’t know if he had fallen unconscious or if something else was happening with his powers. Had he miraculously lost them, something like when Rex had been poisoning him with kryptonite all that time ago? If so, would he survive the fall if Rex couldn’t stop him? If he just slowed him down, would it be enough?

Rex expanded the bottom of his torso and turned it into helium, pushing it downward, but it didn’t really do anything to slow the fall. He tried pulling up, but he had no leverage. If he were standing on solid ground, he’d probably have a hard time moving a limp Superman, and that was nothing compared to this. He was just a near-weightless mass in the air beside him. He could touch him, sure, but that was about it.

He just had to get some momentum in the other direction. He was strong enough to do that, right? He tried twisting, yanking his tentacles back, but he only succeeded in tangling them up in each other and Clark’s cape. He kept trying, though, some memory of an old high school physics class experiment with string dancing in the back of his mind. He couldn’t really feel if it was having any effect on Clark, though. He pumped more gases into his legs, adding some hydrogen to get him even lighter, hoping it would do something to pull them upward, but it just wasn’t enough.

It’d been like this when he was trying to save Clark and Joey from the black hole. It was why he couldn’t fly holding Joey. The anti-proton river and all its viscosity were a totally different kind of challenge than the current battle against gravity, but the same ideas applied. He was there, but anything he could do to make himself stronger would also keep him from flying, and he’d be right there in the anti-proton river or in the clutches of the fall next to Clark.

He might be able to cushion the fall. He kept some of his tentacles wrapped around Clark and began shifting others into a new material. It was similar enough that he thought he could make the change in time. He shifted his atoms, creating a new polymer. Foam, he imagined, and willed his body to change. His tentacles bubbled out, expanding, morphing into something strong and dense enough to absorb some of the shock. He’d used this move before on his past adventures to protect others from falling, but he’d never caught someone falling this far or this fast. He was normally able to get under them first and use his whole body to catch them, but he didn’t think he had the time to get under Clark, even if he morphed into a shape that could fall a little faster. He just had to do his best.

They both bounced when Clark made impact, Clark against the ground, and Rex because there was no longer something dragging him down. Rex reacted fast, turning his legs into lead. He had steel spikes on the bottom of his feet, piercing the crystalline ground and grounding him the moment he made contact. He already felt stronger like this. Before Clark’s body could finish its arc, before it could bounce again and start its trajectory toward the anti-proton river, Rex yanked backward as hard as he could, pulling Clark right into him.

He would have topped if not for his metal legs, but it still surprised him, Clark smacking into his chest. His arms were slack, still stretched out from when he’d been reaching down to catch him. He tightened them up, reverting them back to their normal shape, so he had the strength to keep himself from dropping Clark. Clark would probably be fine if he did actually drop him, but it’d be embarrassing to drop him right after catching him. 

Clark groaned, moving his head a bit, and looked up at Rex. He blinked a few times before asking, “Are you okay?”

“Am I- What do you mean am I okay? You just fell!” Rex put him down, turning his hands back to normal. “I’m- I’m going to try to heal you.”

Hydrogen and helium danced in his palms, feeling a little different from when he’d used the same combination to fly mere moments ago. Chemistry was all about ratios. He didn’t know them off the top of his head. He’d tried to learn them, of course, and he knew the right ratios for his more common elemental needs, but he had no real way to measure what was going on in his body. He went based on feeling. More hydrogen, less helium. A little of some other elements. Oxygen, carbon, iron… All things he was familiar with, gases and solids becoming something new. Atoms flaked off his hands, centring on a mass between his palms, reacting to each other, creating something new.

Plasma was weird. It came from gas, except Rex knew what gas felt like, and this wasn’t it. It was a totally different feeling from when he transformed his body into another element or compound. It almost didn’t feel like a part of him, yet he was intrinsically tied to it. The miniature sun grew in his hands, light exploding from it as the power within the sphere tried to escape. He kept his focus on it, keeping it under control, until he was confident enough that he dared look up to check on Clark. 

He was sitting up, looking at Rex, eyes wide. He had an expression Rex had never seen before fixed on his face. It took Rex a moment to realize Clark’s face had gone slack with wonder. “It’s…”

Clark trailed off, but Rex could imagine what he would say. It’s beautiful, probably, because it was. It was utterly unlike anything most people would ever see in their lives. Then again, Clark was an alien. He’d told Rex that Superman went to space, so he’d probably seen the sun up close before. Not this close, though. Something else, then, maybe. He had a special connection to the yellow sun, didn’t he? He was probably feeling something, being this close to it and all. Something he probably couldn’t find words for. Then again, Clark said he was a journalist. There were probably a ton of adjectives rattling around in that brain of his.

“I couldn’t really appreciate it the first time,” Clark said, eyes still fixed on the sun in Rex’s hands. He shifted, starting to rise to his feet. Rex’s eyes moved to follow him. That look was still on his face, but there was something he couldn’t place about it. Clark was on his feet now, but standing close, looking both transfixed and utterly relaxed. Rex wondered what it felt like. Did the sun feel good? Was it like a deep massage, its power flowing through Clark’s body, working out all the little aches and pains? Or was it more like photosynthesis? Some kind of complex chemical reaction happening under his skin that was utterly incomparable to what human language could voice?

“I can’t maintain this forever,” Rex told him, and he was a little disappointed to see Clark snap out of his blissful daze. His hands remained steady, but he could feel the strain from his fingertips to his biceps from trying to keep them that way. “Are you good?”

Clark shook himself. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to make you… It’s just- That’s really amazing, you know that, right?”

Rex carefully collapsed the sun in his hands, reabsorbing all the materials he used to make it. “It’d be easier to appreciate my powers if it didn’t make me look like this.”

Surprise flashed across Clark’s face, and Rex realized what he’d said. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Maybe he could play it off as a joke? No, he wasn’t the kind of guy who could do that anymore. He didn’t tell jokes like that. He barely joked at all. Clark wouldn’t believe him for a second.

“Rex-” Clark started, but Rex interrupted him before he could finish the thought.

“Are you up for flying? I don’t think I could carry you flying, but I might be able to climb with you if you can’t make it back up,” Rex told him, glancing back up toward their cell. They didn’t actually have to go back, but it’d become something of a home in this terrible place. They could’ve relocated to the Raptor break room right after they’d fought off the Raptors all that time ago. It wasn’t the first time Rex had that thought. But it didn’t feel right. There was something about going back to the same place.

Clark looked down at himself, then floated up experimentally. “Yeah. I think… I don’t know, I ran out of sun. I thought with the whole time not passing thing, I was just imagining it.”

Imagining it? “You could tell?”

“I wasn’t sure!” Clark said almost defensively. “I’ve never been away from the sun for this long. And I never completely healed that first time. I thought it was just wearing on me.”

Rex frowned. “Did you fully heal this time?”

Clark shook his head. “No. But I feel a lot better.”

“Speak up next time,” Rex told him. “I’ll make another sun. It’s not that hard. I don’t want you scaring me like that again.”

Clark looked a little guilty, and Rex willed himself not to falter under his gaze. “Sorry. Really, I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”

Rex shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m not upset with you. We just can’t afford to have you getting hurt.”

Clark nodded. “Right. We don’t know when Lex or the Raptors are coming back.”

Rex didn’t say anything in response to that. He knew logically they had to come back at some point, but he’d already sort of accepted he might be here forever. Thought about how he’d adjust the space to make it easier for Joey, wondered if Joey’s mind would start developing in a body that wasn’t doing the same, tried to figure out how to care for his son long-term in such a place. Imagined how his few friends and family in the outside world would fare without him, how the world would keep going on without him. Pessimistic, maybe, but they’d just been here for so long that it was hard to hope.

Clark seemed to manage, though. His confidence never wavered, or at least Rex never saw it when it did. Rex didn’t think Clark would hide these things from him, though. They were practically at each other's sides at all times, save for the times they’d designated to intentionally spend time apart just in case the time distortion’s effects on their minds weren’t as powerful as they thought it was. They didn’t want to accidentally snap at each other or anything, but Rex wasn’t all that worried about that happening. They had their ups and downs, of course, but Clark was generally an easy guy to be around, and Rex felt like he’d gotten to know the real Clark given the constantness of being around each other. He was genuinely a hopeful guy, genuinely believed they’d escape this place sooner than later.

“Do you still want to fly around today?” Rex asked, then corrected himself. There was no today. “Now, I mean. Or do you want to wait a bit?”

Clark nodded. “We should go find Krypto and make sure he still has enough sun in him.”

Right. Krypto. He’d probably be easier to deal with if he didn’t have his powers, but Rex thought it’d be cruel to take that from him, and he knew Clark would agree. Besides, from what Clark told him, Krypto might not know what it was like not to have powers and might fall if he lost them. As bothersome as the dog could be, Rex didn’t want that.

“I left Joey in the cell,” Rex told Clark, pointing upward. “Let’s bring him to Fleurette, then we can go look for Krypto.”

Clark nodded, and Rex released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, all the terror he’d felt watching Clark fall fading away as they slipped back into their usual routine.

Chapter Text

It was Krypto’s barking that alerted Clark that something was happening. Rex used Clark’s cape to tie Joey to his chest, creating a makeshift babybjrön that they should have come up with a lot earlier than they did, and they were off.

It was just Raptors, no Lex, but it was something. At the very least, someone who could tell them something about how to get out of here. At best, the newcomers left the portal open, and they could just leave.

The fight was harder than Clark expected. Maybe he was rusty, but he was pretty sure it was more of the same problem with the lack of sun. It didn’t take more than one good hit to take a Raptor out, but it hurt Clark’s hands, and the Raptors’ blows hurt even more. Still, they were winning. It didn’t really mean anything until Clark spotted one of Mr. Terrific’s T-Spheres in Krypto’s mouth.

It took him a minute to realize what it was, and that wasn’t because of how much Krypto had chewed through it. How long had he been here? Not long enough to forget his life before the pocket dimension, but still long enough that these sorts of things weren’t on the surface of his mind. Still, he knew what a T-Sphere’s presence meant.

“Rex!” he called once he spotted another T-Sphere whizzing by. “Follow the flying spheres!”

Rex was having an easier time with the Raptors than he was, acid eating through their armor with ease. He pulled himself into a whirling mass of tentacles and ran across the ground after one of the spheres.

The spheres led them to the mouth of a rock formation that Clark and Rex had suspected was a portal point but hadn’t had the faintest idea about how to operate. Mr. Terrific was there, which Clark had suspected, but so was Lois, which Clark had not suspected. 

He only saw her for a moment before she ducked back through the portal. It was collapsing, he realized. Krypto barrelled into it a split second after Mr. Terrific had gone through, and Rex was just a few seconds behind. Clark hadn’t thought he was all that fast, but that must have been why he’d been on the floor instead of flying. Using his polymer tentacles, Rex launched himself off the ground and… didn’t shove himself through the portal. What was he doing? It looked like he was just kind of clinging to it? His tentacles had become metal, it looked like.

Oh, he was bracing it. Clark hadn’t realized how narrow the opening had gotten. Clark sped up the best he could, still a bit weak from the lack of sunlight, covered Joey’s head protectively with his hands, and let himself smash into Rex, knowing he would shift into something that could absorb the impact well. They flew through the portal, tumbling over each other, and landed in- Was that sand?

Clark let himself lie in it, savoring the feeling against the back of his neck. He hated the feeling of sand, he recalled, but right now, it was a sign that he was free, and he really needed that right now. He couldn’t stay like that forever, though. He could feel Rex untangling his tentacles from him, absorbing them back into his body, and gently untying his cape to free baby Joey. Clark stirred and tried to get his elbows under him to push himself up, but the whole process took longer than it should have.

“Are you okay?” Lois asked, and that was the first thing she’d said to Clark in what could’ve been months or years. Clark just stared at her, knowing it was only that long in his head, but it was still jarring to suddenly be out of that place, to be here with her.

“He just needs time to heal,” Rex answered for him. Clark looked up and saw that he was looking right at him. “Do you still get sunlight at night?”

Clark shook himself and let Lois help him up. “Yeah, but not as much. I’ll be fine in the morning. You don’t have to give me a boost.”

“You should get out of here,” Mr. Terrific told them, and Clark remembered the state of things when he’d left. He’d voluntarily gone to the pocket dimension prison. The public had seen the full version of his parents’ message. Lex was still out there, and he’d be hunting him down the moment he knew Superman had escaped. “You can take my ride. I have more work to do here.”

Lois led Clark out of the tent toward Mr. Terrific’s ship, and Clark found himself slowing down about halfway across the camp. Lois turned and looked at him quizically. Clark didn’t say anything, brain trying to kick into gear to figure out what was wrong, when it clicked. He turned back to look at Rex. He was just sort of standing there holding Joey outside the tent flaps. “Are you waiting for something?”

Rex looked surprised and jogged a bit to catch up with Clark and Lois. Whatever feeling had made him stop faded, and he started walking again. He could tell Lois and Rex were both looking at him, very different expressions plastered on their faces, but he didn’t know why until the T-Ship was airborne. He and Rex had been inseparable for so long that Clark had forgotten that wasn’t the norm. But that didn’t mean Rex felt the same way.

“We’re going to Kansas. If you don’t want to come, we can drop you off somewhere,” Clark told him, glancing over at his friend. “I’m sure your family’s worried.”

Rex shrugged, but it was more to hold up Joey than express anything else. “This is my family.”

Right. His wife had died. But Rex had mentioned his father-in-law. Not his own parents, though, not much at least. There was more to that, something Rex had left out despite the endless conversations they’d had in the pocket dimension. That was fine, but Clark was still curious. He didn’t say anything about it, though.

Lois wanted to ask questions too, he could tell. She had no idea who this guy was, and it was probably pretty weird to suddenly have a baby around. She, like him, didn’t say anything, though. Clark could explain later, even if he didn’t know how to put his thoughts into words.

He felt weird. Being outside of the pocket dimension was weird. There was sun here, but like he’d told Rex, he absorbed it a little differently at night. Normally, it wasn’t a problem. He usually had more than enough reserves that night didn’t affect him at all. That wasn’t the case now, and his body still hurt from the fight, and he’d never fully recovered from that kryptonite exposure, even though Rex had doused him in yellow sunlight a handful of times in the pocket dimension. He was tired in a way he hadn’t felt in the time distortion effect, feeling bodily sensations he hadn’t felt in a long time, and didn’t remember how to deal with them.

Ma and Pa were there when they landed. Clark couldn’t remember if he’d called or if he’d given Lois his phone to call them. She’d never met them, right? He was having a hard time remembering. It was easy coming back here, though, in a way that leaving the pocket dimension and returning to the real world hadn’t been.

They put him in his old bed, and Clark fell into it easily. It was far more comfortable than that couch they’d put in their cell. But sleep didn’t come as easily. He’d rested in the pocket dimension, but he hadn’t really slept in the same way he did in the real world. He hadn’t forgotten how, at least he didn’t think, but everything still felt kind of weird. As tired as he was, he didn’t think he was going to fall asleep anytime soon.

He listened as his parents, Lois, and Rex figured out baby arrangements. Pa wanted to go retrieve Clark’s old crib from the attic, but Rex wasn’t about to let him go climbing around in the middle of the night, so he went up himself with Pa’s guidance. Meanwhile, Ma and Lois chatted a little bit about what had happened, and Ma set Lois up in the room Kara had stayed in when she’d first arrived on earth. Both Kara and Clark had told them there wasn’t good reason to have all these extra beds for people who weren’t there all that often, but Ma and Pa insisted. It was paying off now, it seemed. Clark wondered if they had guests all that often when he wasn’t around. Probably not.

Clark dozed off, losing track of everyone for a bit as they settled down, but his superhearing picked up on whispering voices, and his half-asleep mind couldn’t help but tune in.

“Isn’t Clark supposed to be dating that Lois girl?” Pa asked as he and Ma prepared for bed.

“I thought she was.” Clark could hear the frown in her voice. “She seemed like a nice gal. Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Something about that Rex fella. They seem sweet on each other, but you know I’m not good with these things.”

That jolted Clark awake. He opened his eyes but remained in his bed.

“Oh, Jon, don’t say that.” Clark heard a noise that she thought was Ma swatting at Pa, not hard but enough to let him know her disapproval. “He knows we don’t understand all this Superman or Metropolis stuff, but you always make sure he knows we love him. That didn’t change when he told us he likes men. You always try your best.”

“I know, I know. He told us that so long ago, though, Martha, and he’s never brought a boy home.”

Clark heard them keep talking and closed his eyes. He tried to tune the conversation out. He didn’t need to hear this. Didn’t want to hear it either. He felt creepy listening to other people’s conversations, especially his parents’. Sometimes they said things he needed to know, though. Like this. Now that he knew, he could… He didn’t know. Explain? What was there to explain? That, despite Lois being his girlfriend, he hadn’t seen her in forever, and maybe didn’t remember how to be around her? That he’d shared a ten-by-twenty-foot cube with Rex longer than he’d been with Lois? That their time together had made them comfortable with each other, and that was it? That he was still reeling a bit from being torn out of the pocket dimension and being around Rex made him feel a little more normal?

Another sound pulled him from his thoughts. It was closer this time. A door on the door handle. Someone opening the door. Lois coming to join him? Clark didn’t really want that. As much as he wanted to get back to their relationship, he was lying in a twin-sized bed. There was definitely not room. But the sounds he heard weren’t gentle enough to be Lois.

A jingle of a collar and claws against carpet. Krypto. But Krypto couldn’t open doors.

“Don’t jump on him,” Rex hissed quietly as Krypto scurried into the room. “Don’t bite him either. Be nice. He needs to rest.”

Krypto didn’t respond because, of course, he couldn’t. He was a dog and couldn’t talk. Still, he seemed to listen. Clark felt him jump up on the bed, paws pulling at the blanket and sheets without disrupting him too much. Clark remained still, keeping his eyes closed, as Rex lingered at the doorway. Clark wondered what he was doing, but he thought it’d scare Rex off if he opened his eyes and spoke at this point.

He didn’t know what he was expecting, but whatever it was, Rex didn’t do it. Without saying anything, he merely closed the door and wandered down the hall. Clark listened as he went back to the spot where he’d been set up with Joey’s new crib, checking on his son before trying to make himself comfortable on the couch. Clark listened to him longer than he meant to.

Chapter Text

Rex woke when the Kents did. Being set up in the living room and all, it felt like he could hear any noise in the house. He felt incredibly awkward the moment their eyes fell upon him lying on the couch, but they didn’t bat an eye at his appearance, so he tried to force those thoughts away and pretend like he was just a regular guest at a friend’s house. Not that he’d had much experience with that, but still.

“Do you need help with anything, um, Mr. and Mrs. Kent?” Rex asked, peeling himself off the couch.

Ma waved her hands like she was shushing him, only it seemed more playful than serious. “None of that. You call us Ma and Pa, you hear? Or Martha and Jonathan, if you were raised like that. And don’t you-”

“I could always use a hand on the farm,” Pa spoke up, interrupting Ma like he knew what she was going to say. He probably did. Rex had only interacted with them a bit last night, and he could picture Ma insisting that he was a guest and didn’t have to do anything. He didn’t really want to go out and work on the farm, but that was better than just sitting around while the Kents worked, so he didn’t mind Pa’s offer all that much. “I manage, but it’s been harder since Clark went off to be a big reporter.”

“I’d be happy to help out,” Rex told him, hoping it sounded genuine. He glanced in Joey’s direction, and Ma picked up on what he was thinking instantly.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” she assured him. “I was going to get started on breakfast once Lois is up. No trouble looking after this little rugrat.”

Rex thanked her and followed Pa out. Rex thought they were going to get right to working, but apparently, Pa liked taking it slow, and he seemed more interested in having company than getting any actual work done. 

“That kid yours?” Pa asked as he directed Rex to pick up some feed for the chickens. It was a heavy bag, not nearly too heavy for Rex to carry, but he imagined it was hard for Pa to manage this all on his own.

“Uh-huh,” Rex answered as Pa waddled off toward the chicken coop. He walked slower than Rex did, even holding the bag, but Rex didn’t dare walk past him. Unprompted, he added, “He’s human. I mean, he’s green, obviously. But his mom was human, so…”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Pa murmured, and Rex flinched.

“What?” How did he- Oh. He used the past tense when talking about Sapph. Huh. When had he started doing that? He shook himself. “Thanks. It was a while ago. Or, um, I guess not really. Did Lois tell you Clark and I were stuck in a pocket dimension? Time works differently there. I think we were there for a few months, maybe longer.”

“I don’t know none of that science stuff,” Pa told him, shaking his head, “but I know loss is loss. Doesn’t matter how much time’s passed.”

That was true. Rex didn’t know why his first reaction was always to say it happened awhile ago. He’d done the same thing with Clark. But Pa was right. He still had feelings about Sapph’s death, even if he didn’t want to. He’d had the time to process everything, sure, but that didn’t mean it was fine. Grief wasn’t linear, or so he’d heard. He’d learned that lesson before. He could learn it again.

“Do you get internet out here?” Rex asked as Pa guided him through feeding the chickens. “I’m not sure how long I was gone, and I kind of wanted to figure it out.”

“Got one of them smartphones. Don’t know how to use it, but I’m sure a young man like yourself can figure it out,” Pa told him, and Rex tried to be patient as they worked for another couple hours. There was still more work to be done, Rex could tell, but Pa just wanted to get the more important things done before heading back to the farmhouse. Feeding and watering the animals, mostly. Milking the cows, too, which Rex wasn’t thrilled to do, but Pa just had him carry the buckets while he did the milking himself. 

“Hey, Rex,” Clark called when Rex and Pa returned to the house, “what can Joey eat?”

Rex stopped in the doorway. Shit. How was he supposed to feed Joey without Sapph? Wait, Joey could do formula, so it wasn’t that big of a problem long term, but Joey hadn’t eaten in as long as Rex had. Going right into regular food probably wasn’t the best? But it was probably better for him to eat sooner than later, and Rex doubted it’d be easy to find formula or breast milk in the middle of a random town in Kansas.

They figured it out, though, and Joey didn’t have any problems eating, which was a relief. Ma seemed to enjoy fussing over him, which Rex was fine with. In the pocket dimension, so much of him had been focused on protecting him, and he knew that wasn’t a very healthy mindset to be in. Clark and Fleurette helped, but Rex wasn’t going to say no to a moment he didn’t have to be holding Joey.

Lois caught everyone up on what’d been happening. Clark had told Rex about what Lex had done and about the message he’d taken from the Fortress of Solitude, but truth be told, Rex had kind of forgotten about it. It hadn’t really been relevant when they were in the pocket dimension. He assumed Clark compartmentalized it, too, because it seemed to be weighing on him now. 

Clark went off on his own a bit after breakfast. Lois was on her phone, doing something for work. Rex sat in the living room with Ma and Joey, half-paying attention to the TV while he used Ma’s phone to try to figure out how much time had passed in the real world. He couldn’t really remember what day he’d been taken, but there were news articles about Sapph’s death. She was a billionaire’s daughter, after all. Not front page stuff, but most local papers had something about her, a few others Rex didn’t recognize, too. Business ones, Rex assumed. Some social media posts as well, but not many. Rex let his eyes just skim over them, acknowledging their existence but not really reading them. Probably interns and social media managers writing the obligatory condolences posts to Stagg.

It’d been about a week. It was hard to wrap his head around. He’d healed, somewhat, but Stagg was probably still grieving. Java too. And Sapph’s friends. His apartment was probably intact, which was also kind of weird to think about. He hadn’t had many material things for awhile, but he should probably go retrieve his belongings from his old life soon. Unless Stagg already moved them, that is, but somehow he doubted that. He had more important things to do than think about Rex.

“Oh, my,” Ma said suddenly, and Rex looked up to what looked like a warzone on the TV. Louder, she called, “Clark! Come look at the box!”

What happened in the next few minutes felt like it happened very fast. Clark got a call, and Lois took the T-Ship back to Metropolis. Clark made plans to send the Justice Gang to Jarhanpur and asked Rex if he wanted to join the fight. Rex agreed and talked with Ma about watching Joey. Within the hour, he was in a green glowing sphere and flying halfway across the world with two people he’d never met.

“We only have a couple minutes before we’re there,” Green Lantern told him, pulling Rex’s attention from the blur of sky around them. They were going pretty fast. Was this was Clark felt like all the time? He could fly a lot faster than Rex could. “We need to know if you’re going to be a liability.”

“What Guy means is that if we’re going to work together, we need to know your combat capabilities,” Hawkgirl said, shooting a glare at her teammate. “What are your powers?”

Rex felt a little on the spot even though he knew he shouldn’t have. He squared his shoulders and tried to sound confident as he spoke. “They call me Metamorpho, the Element Man. I can reshape my body and turn it into any element.”

“Any element?” 

“Can you combine them?”

Rex nodded to both questions. “I’m limited by how much I know about it, but yeah. I have a few go-to moves with more classic elements and easier compounds, but if you have something in mind, I can always try it.”

“Anything like the Metal Men?” Hawkgirl asked. Rex turned his head to face her. It was a little awkward. Whatever Green Lantern—Guy, Hawkgirl had called him—was using to make them fly with him made it so they were practically lying down, taking the same position Superman took when he flew. Rex thought it would be weirder to look at Guy’s feet instead of turning to face Hawkgirl when she was talking to him, though. “You know, Platinum is elastic, Iron is strong, Mercury can liquify, that sort of thing.”

“Um, yeah. Basically.” Rex couldn’t believe he’d never made the comparison. His dad had been a fan of the Metal Men and told him about them when he was a kid. Then again, they’d already been kind of old at that point. It wasn’t a wonder he didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about them. “Except with liquid and gas, too. And, like I said, I can mix them and make new stuff. I do a lot of plastics and chemicals.”

“Sounds boring,” Guy said, but it didn’t really sound like he was insulting him. Rex was getting the sense that Guy was just like that. He just kind of said things. “You can fight with this stuff?”

Rex nodded, then realized Guy couldn’t see him where they were positioned. “Yeah. I can fly by turning my legs into hydrogen or helium, I can hit pretty hard with different metals, I can use acid to melt stuff, and my body is pretty malleable, so I can’t really get hurt.”

Guy made a noise. Rex thought it might be approval. “Not bad. You know our powers?”

“I got the gist of it. You got hard light, and she’s got flight, right?”

“Hey, I’m more than just flying,” Hawkgirl responded. She smiled almost menacingly. “I hit things, too.”

“I got my powers from an Egyptian artifact,” Rex told her, and he saw recognition flash in her eyes. “If we actually got talking about your powers, we wouldn’t make it to the fight.”

“What’s that about Egypt?” Guy asked but didn’t wait for an answer. He stopped abruptly but none of his passengers crashed into the bubble he had around them. He let the green glow go, giving the group a clear view of the battlefield below. “We’re here. Show us what you got, Element Man!”

Chapter Text

Around an hour passed between Superman's arrival in Metropolis and the end of the fight, as far as Clark could tell at least. His sense of time was pretty messed up. Maybe he should pretend he got injured in the attack so he could avoid going to work for a little bit? Just until he figured out how to be normal again. 

He knew he couldn’t, though. Jimmy had gotten a major scoop about Lex, and the whole crew had been there when Lois wrote the article, everyone except Clark. There’d be a lot of news in the coming days, and he couldn’t afford to get on Perry’s bad side by missing it. Besides, he had an article he wanted to write, one he’d been writing in his head practically the whole time he was in the pocket dimension.

But right now, it was time to be Superman. Most of Metropolis had evacuated, but the Daily Planet crew was here, and Clark was excited to be around them, even if they weren’t his co-workers right now.

“Up for an interview, Superman?” Lois called out, voice light and teasing. She led him into a mall, and Clark followed her like a dog on a leash. She turned, smiling with a rare openness, and put her arms around his shoulders. Clark steadied her, she leaned in, and-

Clark pulled away.

If he could see himself, he knew he’d look as surprised as Lois did right now. “Clark?”

“Sorry,” he blurted out, not sure what else to say. “We can- We can try again.”

“It’s fine,” Lois responded, and she leaned away. It wasn’t forceful, but Clark let her go as if she’d yanked herself away. Her expression closed off again, that earlier light dying fast. “I know we’ve never done anything like that with you in costume. It’s okay if you aren’t ready.”

Clark didn’t think that was it, understanding of what actually happened very quickly building in his mind, but he didn’t say anything. “I should get back to the city. Unless you actually need to do an interview.”

“It’s fine,” Lois repeated, and it didn’t sound like it was fine, “we can talk tonight. My place?”

“I’ll be there,” Clark promised with a nod and took off. 

There wasn’t actually a lot to be done at the moment, but it felt like it. The frantic moments had passed, and the city was pretty calm now. People were going to start returning soon, though, and there’d been a lot of damage done between the rift and the battle with Ultraman, so Superman and Mr. Terrific’s services were needed a little bit longer.

“Do you know how big the time difference in the pocket dimension was?” Clark asked, trying to sound casual as Terrific’s T-Spheres pointed out some areas that needed Superman’s attention.

“What?” Terrific asked, and he looked genuinely confused. Clark blinked a couple times. It hadn’t really occurred to him that Terrific wouldn’t know.

“Time passed differently in there. I don’t know if it’s a one-to-one ratio kind of thing. From what the other prisoners said, I think-”

“Other prisoners?” Terrific interrupted sharply, and it took Clark a moment to realize why.

He whipped around, not sure what he was looking for but suddenly feeling the need to move. He swore under his breath. “I wasn’t thinking. We need to get them out of there!”

“There was a portal in Lex’s headquarters, right?” Terrific asked, and the two were off. Terrific knew his way around Lex’s portal tech well enough by now, but knowing the time distortion was still in effect made Clark antsy as he watched Terrific tap away at one of the computers. Luckily, Terrific was a good person to have in a situation like this. Always thinking a few steps ahead. “How many people are in there?”

“A couple hundred, I think,” Clark said, and Terrific didn’t react. Clark kept talking. “Lex said a lot of them were other countries’ criminals and metahumans, but a lot of them were just regular people Lex wanted to stick in there.”

Terrific still didn’t react, but Clark knew he was just thinking. “It hasn’t been that long since the end of the fight. A.R.G.U.S. should still be around. Grab one of the higher-ups. Rick Flag, if you can. I know I can figure this out, but we’ll need help if we’re going to be dealing with that many people.”

Clark nodded and did as he was told, flying off and using his X-ray vision to find the group of A.R.G.U.S. agents that were in the middle of transporting Lex. Clark saw Lex’s expression shift, looking almost smug, but he ignored him and flew up to the guy he was pretty sure was Rick Flag. “General Flag?”

“That’s me,” Flag confirmed, rolling down the passenger window of the car he was riding in. He signaled to the driver, and the car started pulling over. “What can I do for you, Superman?”

“We have a bit of an, um, urgent situation that we could use your help with,” Superman told him as Flag swung his legs out of the car to stand beside him. “How much do you know about Lex’s secret prison?”

“Not much,” Flag admitted. “Army’s orders were to hand you over to Lex. I wasn’t told much else.”

Flag was the one who’d arrested him, Clark realized. The one who hadn’t read him his rights. Who told him he didn’t have rights. He’d been in the pocket dimension so long he’d forgotten about that. He suddenly didn’t want to work with this guy anymore. But like he’d said, time was of the essence. “It’s a pocket dimension.”

Something flickered across Flag’s face. “I know that much.”

Clark was in too much of a hurry to really be annoyed. “It’s… Well, it’s a private prison that no government figure has ever inspected. The conditions are terrible in there. It’s just a bunch of these tiny, empty cells super tightly packed together that no one can leave. But that’s not why I came here. There’s a time distortion effect in the pocket dimension. Out here, I wasn’t even in there for a day, but for me, it- I don’t even know how long it was. A few months at least.”

Another emotion flashed across Flag’s face, this one a little easier to read than the other look he’d had. Flag wasn’t liking what he was hearing. “If he’s got other prisoners in there, that means they might be serving longer than their actual sentences.”

Clark nodded. “Right. And a lot of them don’t even have sentences.”

“What?” 

Flag’s expression deepened, features furrowing and growing harder like he was preparing for a fight. He was outraged, but it was well contained. He did have a sense of mortality, it seemed. Hopefully, it would actually be enough for this guy to help. “It’s mostly other countries’ criminals, but Lex also just put a lot of random people in there. Metahumans the Raptors grabbed off the street, mostly, but a lot of his ex-girlfriends were in there too.”

Rick swore, first quietly, then louder. He looked away like he was trying to reel his anger in, then turned back to Clark. “You sure?”

Clark nodded. “Our next-door neighbor was one. She pointed some of them out to us.”

“Someone should’ve noticed if someone as high-profile as Lex’s exes were disappearing,” Flag said, sounding angry. “We knew he was- shit. Whatever. You have a plan?”

“Mr. Terrific does, I think,” Clark told him. “He’s at the portal Lex had at LexCorp.”

“Fly me there,” Flag ordered, surprising both Clark and the A.R.G.U.S. agent that had been driving the car.

“Sir-” the agent started, but Flag cut him off.

“Do it,” Flag said, lifting his arm to give Clark better access to pick him up. Clark did as he was told, even if it was totally unexpected. Flag seemed to sense this and explained. “Ever wonder why I was called in to meet with the Department of Defense? I’m not a director or anything. I’m a metahuman specialist. Waller’s little metahuman games got shut down after her daughter went public with how my son died. He led a squad of metahumans, you hear about that? Task Force X. They called it the Suicide Squad. I didn’t know, not until it happened. Still don’t know the details. But I’d bet anything I’ve led more squads like that than he did.”

That all sounded a little familiar. Clark was sure he’d seen it in the news when it happened, though he didn’t remember the details. Still… “You told me I don’t have rights.”

“You don’t,” Flag said flatly, even though Clark technically had his life in his hands right now. Clark was getting a sense for what kind of man Flag was. “Not my decision. Non-human metas are treated like shit. I know better than you’d think. But the distinction’s still important.”

Clark wanted to get into that, but he didn’t think it was the time, and they were at Lex’s base anyway. He flew through the window he’d broken through before and set Flag down near Terrific. “What’s the plan?”

“I can open the portal. That’s not a problem, but we shouldn’t leave it open too long. You shouldn’t fuck with stuff like this. It’s insane Lex used it as carelessly as he did. I think my T-Spheres can still operate in there with the portal closed, though. I was thinking I have them do a facial recognition scan of everyone in there, categorize everyone, weed out whoever doesn’t have a record, send Supes to pull them out first, then give the data over to A.R.G.U.S. and let them figure out what to do with the criminals. If General Flag’s alright with just trusting that I can figure out who’s innocent.”

“If you give us the data, we can track them down later if it becomes a problem,” Flag responded. “A.R.G.U.S. has some social workers, I’ll call some in to make sure they’re not about to snap before we let them go.”

It was a good plan, but Clark still wasn’t happy with it. “We shouldn’t leave everyone else in there. Even if they aren’t innocent, they don’t deserve to be in there. It- I- You don’t know what it’s like in there.”

Flag glanced at him, looking thoughtful. Clark was pretty sure he was going to call him a pansy or something, but he ended up conceding. “We’ll get someone to look into that time distortion effect you mentioned. But it’s still too much of a risk to just let criminals loose on the streets. We’ll get them out, but we’re prioritizing. Getting the innocents out is what matters. The rest of them can survive in there a little bit longer on their own until we have a place to put them.

Clark supposed that was about as good as he was going to get. Terrific worked his magic with his T-Spheres, and Clark started pulling out some of the prisoners. Fleurette, he knew, was innocent. He took the extra time to get her home to her parents before following Terrific’s instructions to take out the others. Guy, Hawkgirl, and Rex returned sooner than later, and their help sped the process up a lot. A.R.G.U.S. probably wouldn’t be able to get the prisoners out on their own, so Flag bit back any complaints he had and let Superman and the Justice Gang put the prisoners in whatever temporary spots they could manage.

Rex was joining the Justice Gang, apparently. Clark hadn’t really thought about it when he asked Rex if he wanted to join Guy and Hawkgirl for the fight in Jarhanpur. It made sense, and it didn’t at the same time. Guy vetoed Terrific or Hawkgirl’s suggestions for new members all the time. It was saying something if he agreed for Rex to join. Clark knew he had what it took, but he was biased. Still, it’d probably be good for Rex long-term. In the short term, the extra hands on the situation were a big help.

They had a good system, and they even got most of the prisoners to more long-term holding before Clark remembered he was supposed to be meeting up with Lois. 

But even once he remembered, Clark didn’t leave until the sun went down and there was no more work to be done. Superman came before Clark. This was more important, no matter how guilty the thought of hurting Lois like this made him feel.

Chapter Text

“You’re late,” Lois said when Clark entered her apartment, out of costume, of course. She was sitting on the couch, curled up against the armrest. The armchair beside her felt so empty, the expectation for Clark to have been in it hours ago almost deafening.

“We didn’t set a time,” Clark said, and even he knew it was a weak excuse. It was late, later than he should have allowed himself to be. “I’m sorry.”

Lois hummed. “I’m having a hard time reading you right now.”

Clark didn’t know what she meant by that. “I’m having a hard time reading me, too.”

“How long were you in the pocket dimension?” 

Clark sighed and sat down in the armchair. The age-old question. “I don’t know. I’ve been telling myself it was a few months, but I really think it was a lot longer than that.”

She hummed again. “So from your perspective, you told me you loved me months ago, and I never said it back.”

“Lois-”

“No, Clark,” she interrupted, but it was soft. “It’s not- I just want to understand what’s happening.”

“Nothing’s happening, Lois.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me things exactly like they were a couple days ago.”

Clark couldn’t do it. “Your couple days ago weren’t my couple days ago.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair,” she quipped, then she leaned forward a bit, elbows resting on her knees, and the furrow in her brow relaxed into something more sincere. “Talk to me, Clark.”

I don’t know what there is to talk about, he almost said. He leaned back in the chair, thinking. Being a reporter and all, he’d think he’d have the words to explain what he was feeling, but that often wasn’t the case. Happy, sad, angry, and the like were easy. But the feelings that came with being Superman? The disbelief about how people condemned him for acting against injustices, how overwhelming his enhanced senses could be, the outrage he felt at how some humans treated others, the disconnect he felt within himself from juggling all these different part of his identities, how it hurt not to be able to talk about so many different things as Clark Kent… and now this.

There were two parts to this. No, three.

The first was about what happened before. How he’d interfered with a war, what Lex had done, and learning the true meaning of his parents’ message. The latter was what had shaken him the most, what still shook him, but he’d had time to reflect on it, and his time at the farm had helped. He’d recentered, reminded himself of who he was. His heritage was important to him, and he’d chosen that message to represent that, so he’d clung to it. It was a symbol, but symbols weren’t literally what they represented. His values weren’t a symbol, and they hadn’t come from that message.

Besides, once the initial panic died down and he’d had time to reflect, Clark realized it was Lex making the claim. He’d said he had linguists analyze the message, but what did that actually mean? Clark didn’t know Kryptonian, how could some random humans? And that was assuming Lex had actually checked with anyone to begin with. He’d have to talk to Kara when she got back to Earth. But even if the message said what Lex claimed, it didn’t matter. He knew who he was. He was still a little shaken, and he’d be trying to rediscover the balance between his Kryptonian and Earthling sides for awhile longer, but he knew who he was and what he stood for. 

The second part was the time distortion effect of the pocket dimension. For him, a lot of time had passed that hadn’t passed for anyone else in his regular life. There were a lot of implications to that but the main thing was that he’d just forgotten a lot of little details that he shouldn’t have forgotten in merely a day, things like where he was in an article at the Planet and what he’d last talked about with Lois. But more than that, he’d had time to meditate on his feelings that Lois hadn’t. He’d been with her longer than she’d been with him, in a way.

He’d had the thought when he was listening into Pa and Ma’s conversation, but it remained true: he’d been in the pocket dimension for longer than he’d been with Lois. Specifically, he’d shared a ten-by-twenty-foot cube with Rex longer than he’d been with Lois, which led into the third part.

What Pa had said about Rex hadn’t been a surprise, not exactly. More like… switching on a flashlight to gently illuminate a dark room than turning on a spotlight to light up a parking lot at night. The thought had been there, but not quite fully formed, always an inkling in the back of his mind, never a fully formed thought.

It was a crush. This wasn’t a romance novel or a romcom. The realization that he was in love hadn’t struck him like a bolt of lightning, because he wasn’t. This was real life, and that wasn’t how real life worked. Love came when someone acted on their feelings and worked on their relationship. Any kind of love, not just the romantic kind. Clark and Rex had done that, Clark supposed, but it wasn’t anything close to romantic, and he probably wouldn’t even call what they had platonic love yet. They hadn’t started with friendship. It had a relationship of necessity. They’d needed each other to survive, to protect each other and keep each other sane, and take care of Joey. 

But the cell. They’d been close, physical closeness leading into something deeper. Rex had said something about Joey knowing when Clark was present and something about how that fulfilled some kind of emotional need. Clark didn’t know a thing about babies other than what Rex had taught him, but he saw what Rex meant. He thought it applied to them. They’d spent so much time in each other’s presence, and there was something very intimate about that. Being aware of someone else’s body, how they breathed, knowing exactly how they’d shift to get more comfortable, feeling his shoulder pressed against his own as they pressed together on the couch they’d taken…

They understood each other. Had flown together dozens, if not hundreds, of times. They’d fought alongside each other and seen each other at their most vulnerable. Sure, they’d talked too, but that was nothing compared to just being together. It was all he’d known for so long.

When they’d left the pocket dimension, when Lois was leading him to the T-Ship, he’d stopped. Something felt wrong, and he’d stopped. The lack of Rex’s presence, it had been. They weren’t together every moment when they’d been in the pocket dimension. They took breaks, allowing time for themselves. They’d argued too, not often, but no one got along a hundred percent of the time, and they’d taken time apart to cool down. They always came back, though, and they’d probably spent more time leaning against each other on that couch than anything else. Clark was used to just knowing that if he turned his head, Rex would be there.

If he explained this all to a psychologist, Clark was sure they’d have some logic for it. Co-dependency or something, even though Clark knew that wasn’t it. Some part of their lizard brains not ready to break from the routine they’d found comfort in for so long, maybe. But there was something romantic about that, or at least Clark thought there could be. That’s what a partnership was, wasn’t it? Always being there for one another. A life partner, in the truest meaning of the words, meant you shared your life with someone, that you navigated the path of life next to one another. He’d had that with Rex.

But he was with Lois. They’d had that too, in a way, but not really. They’d worked together, and he’d let her into the part of his life that was Superman. She knew him as Clark, and she knew him as Kal-El. She wasn’t actually a part of those lives, though.

But he couldn’t hold it against her. Clark had bonded with Rex because they were two metas who’d been tossed into a time-distorting prison together. Nothing was really comparable to that, and it’d be especially unfair to try to hold his time with Lois to the same standard. 

His memory of their relationship had faded. It was fresh and current for her, but it was a thing of the past for him. What they’d had was special, but while he knew the reasons why, they just didn’t feel as significant as they’d once been. 

It didn’t have anything to do with Rex, he realized. He was a one-partner kind of guy, but he knew that liking one person didn’t automatically mean he stopped liking someone else. He still had feelings for Lois. They just weren’t the same as they’d once been, and they probably weren’t the same as what she felt for him either.

“I don’t want to break up,” Clark decided on saying, and the look on Lois’s face told him that probably wasn’t the right answer to whatever question had been asked without being voiced.

“I didn’t know that was on the table,” she responded once she’d regained her composure. 

“You’d said you can’t do this,” Clark said, the memory suddenly resurfacing in his mind. He wondered if he actually had a point or if he was grasping at straws. 

“I don’t know what I’m saying half the time.” Lois paused. “That’s a full lie. I’m Lois Lane. I always know what I’m saying. You know what I mean.”

“I don’t,” Clark said truthfully because he didn’t. Was Lois just being vague, or had he lost whatever that connection they’d shared that let him understand everything she wasn’t saying? Lois had this way with words, to say a lot more than what was actually being said in the most literal sense. It was part of why she was a great writer, but it translated to her personal life differently than it did to the page. Clark had thought he’d gotten it, but he wasn’t so sure anymore. 

“That was the same conversation you said you loved me,” Lois told him, circling back to their earlier thread of conversation, as if Clark hadn’t said anything. “I didn’t say it back. I wasn’t ready, but I did. I do. I love you, Clark. It’s okay if you can’t say it back anymore.”

“I…” Clark trailed off, trying to pull his thoughts back together. Slowly, he added, “I love you too, but…”

“But what?”

“A lot of time passed for me, Lois. You know that, I know that,” Clark told her, suddenly feeling very tired. Some effect of the pocket dimension hadn’t made his time there weigh on his mind the way it should have, but he could feel it now. “I love you, and you’re important to me, but you’re right. This thing happened, and everything’s different now. It’s not… I don’t love you like we’ve been together for three months. But I don’t love you like someone I’ve been with for- for however long I’ve been in there. Six months. A year. Two years. Whatever. It’s more like… I love you like someone I used to… Like someone I just haven’t seen in a while.”

“Like an ex,” Lois said, and her words felt like a slap.

“Lois-”

“No, it’s fine. I can’t- You know I try to hold you to the same standards as I would anyone else. A regular human. But this? Lex putting you in a- a time prison? This is all out of your control.”

“I mean, I did go there voluntarily.”

“You were arrested. And you didn’t know it was a time prison.”

“I still would have gone if I’d known.”

“You’re missing the point.” Lois shifted like an agitated horse. Like if she repositioned enough, she could get the conversation back on the track she wanted it to be on. This conversation was going to be hard no matter how much either of them fought, though.

Clark wanted to keep fighting, to keep fighting for them, but he was just so… tired. Not physically, not from the battle, or staying awake. Just from being. Why was everything always so hard? “It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“What? Breaking up with me or staying together?”

“Both,” Clark responded. He folded his hands, thinking. There was always the option for compromise, but… “Taking a break would be worse, though, I think.”

“I mean, you know I don’t really do relationships. Wouldn’t be a problem for me if you just wanted to take some time.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to you,” Clark repeated firmly, shaking his head.

“It wouldn’t be fair to you either.”

“What, breaking up or staying together?”

“Both,” Lois said, mirroring his words. They looked at each other for a moment, unspoken words dancing between them. It wasn’t like it once was, but Clark still knew what she meant. They both knew it was over. They’d try maybe to get back what they once had, whether it be their former friendship or their newer romantic relationship, but they probably wouldn’t try very hard. 

And Clark was okay with that. Breakups sucked, even if he sort of wanted it to happen, but he hadn’t actually been in this relationship for a long time. This conversation was just a formality, a nail in a coffin that’d already been buried. He’d already moved on.

Chapter Text

Guy knew Metamorpho wasn’t expecting an entourage to come with joining the Justice Gang, but he and Hawkgirl were nosy, and they didn’t have anything better to do. What, were they just not supposed to follow when Metamorpho asked Terrific for a ride in the T-Ship? Wherever they were going had to be more interesting than this.

“We’re going by Superman’s parents’ place,” Michael told them once Guy and Kendra took their seats. Guy thought it might be an invitation to leave, but he wasn’t great with social cues, and Michael wasn’t great at giving them, so he stayed. 

“Guy and I have been getting into card games,” Kendra told Metamorpho as the ship pulled out of the garage, “but Terrific’s not much of a player, so we’ve been limited to two-player games.”

“You always want to play when I’m driving,” Michael complained without looking over his shoulder.

“He’s lying. Don’t listen to him. He’s a stick in the mud,” Guy told Metamorpho, pulling the deck from his pocket. “Wanna play? This thing’s fast but not Lantern fast.”

“What games can you play with three people that you can’t do with two?” Metamorpho asked, which wasn’t a yes but Guy took it as one. 

Kendra launched into an explanation. She and Guy did a lot of Egyptian War, which would be fun to make Metamorpho play eventually, but the T-Ship wasn’t the best place for it. Guy had been wanting to teach Kendra Hearts for awhile now, but that’d require four people, and Michael made it clear he didn’t want to play. They talked about trying Rummy, Spoons, or Texas Hold ‘Em, but ended up settling on Go Fish. 

He got surprisingly into it. Kendra too, but he couldn’t get a good read on whether Metamorpho was having a good time or not. Guy thought he got a good sense for the guy after fighting alongside him and working alongside him to clean up Metropolis, but after Metamorpho spent a night with them at the Hall of Justice, Guy wasn’t so sure. He was quiet, which Guy had already known, but Metamorpho seemed straight-up introverted. Michael was too, but he rocked it in a way Metamorpho didn’t. Guy didn’t know how to explain it. He didn’t want to call him weird or awkward, but he kind of was. Shy maybe? Strange trait for a superhero, but it wasn’t like the rest of them had perfect personalities. 

The game kept Guy or Kendra from asking a lot of questions about the trip, so it was somewhat surprising when Michael brought the ship down on farmland. Metamorpho got up and headed toward the farmhouse, but Michael stopped him when Guy tried to follow.

“How would you feel if Superman went poking around your childhood home?” Michael asked, even though he must know the answer to that question.

“I wouldn’t give a flying fuck because my family sucks,” Guy responded, but he still understood Michael’s point. “We’re still here though, so I feel like we’re already kind of crossing that boundary.”

“Metamorpho’s got business here. Let him do his thing.”

“Come on, why does he get to go and I don’t?” Guy complained, crossing his arms.

“You’ll see when he comes back,” Michael told him, and Guy didn’t know what that meant, but he still sat back down. He wasn’t happy about it, though.

“How do you know so much about him?” Guy asked after a beat, leaning one elbow on his armrest and resting his cheek on his knuckles. “You guys have a heart-to-heart after we got home or something?”

“Or something,” Michael said a little dryly. He didn’t elaborate.

Kendra, thankfully, picked up some of the slack. “Just tell us. It doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a secret.”

Michael didn’t answer. Gaze remaining steadfast ahead, he said, “He’s coming back.”

Guy couldn’t see Metamorpho approaching from where he sat, but he was surprised to see Metamorpho holding a green baby when the hangar door dropped. Metamorpho looked sheepish, more awkward than normal, and told them, “Ma Kent’s insisting you guys come in for lunch. She wants to meet Clark’s friends.”

Guy now understood what Michael meant when he said that thing about poking around Superman’s childhood home. He’d joked about crossing that boundary, but it suddenly felt very real when they were actually walking up to the farmhouse. He did not like it.

Martha and Jonathan, or Ma and Pa as they insisted they be called, seemed like nice folks. Not something Guy was used to, and he felt even more thrown out of his element. So much so that he didn’t refuse like he should have when Pa asked if he and Metamorpho– or Rex, as he called him– could help out on the farm. At least Rex looked equally as displeased at the prospect, but he didn’t speak up, and Guy found himself cleaning out a barn for the better part of an hour. It took longer than he thought it would have, even with his ring.

Ma fed them, though. Michael and Kendra got fed too, even though they hadn’t been working like Rex and Guy had. They must’ve been doing some kind of chore, but Guy didn’t care enough to ask. Helping prepare lunch, probably, or some kind of farm work that involved being inside, like counting eggs or something. Guy didn’t know what farm people did. He was a city boy through and through.

The baby seemed friendly enough with them, though, so Guy imagined they’d spent some time caring for it. He could imagine Kendra cooing over it and Michael’s face glazing over in panic when someone asked him to hold it. But Guy didn’t ask until they were back on the ship and headed home. “What’s the deal with the baby?”

“He’s mine,” Rex said almost defensively, as if that wasn’t obvious. The baby was green for crying out loud. Who else’s baby would he be?

“I meant what’s his deal? Is he going to be around? Why’s he green?”

Rex just sort of stared at him. People did that around Guy a lot. He really thought Rex was working up an answer when Michael interrupted. “You want to go by your father-in-law’s on the way back? Or your place? Or just go right to the Hall of Justice?”

“Father-in-law,” Rex answered before Guy could properly process what he’d just heard.

“Fahter-in-law?” Kendra echoed, a question on her voice, but she didn’t actually ask the question Guy knew was on her mind. He knew she was thinking it because he was too.

Guy did because he wasn’t a coward. “You’re married?”

Rex made a noncommittal noise. “Was. Lex killed her when he kidnapped us.”

Guy instantly felt bad for everything he’d said in the past minute. And that was saying something. It took him a lot to regret his words that fast. Sure, when he was lying in bed, stewing in his own thoughts, trying to remember the conversations he’d had throughout the day, something usually came up. But in the moment? That meant he’d done a real fuck up. Guy wasn’t so arrogant to pretend he hadn’t, though. “I’m sorry, man. You… Well, I assume you’re not good.”

Rex made another noise and shrugged. “It’s not that fresh for me. You know, the time thing. But it’s only been like a week in the real world, so I want to check in with her dad. I’m sure he saw me on the news, but I want to let him know Joey’s alive.”

“What was her name?” Kendra asked softly. That was a good question, Guy thought. Better than anything he could have come with. He should probably let her do the talking from now on, but there were a lot more questions buzzing around Guy’s brain, and he didn’t think he could keep them in.

“Sapphire,” Rex responded. He went quiet for a moment, and Guy thought maybe they’d done something to upset him, but then he kept talking, and Guy realized it was just a pause. “You might know her. Sapphire Stagg? Her dad’s Simon Stagg. I think he worked with- um, Maxwell Lord is your boss, right? Our boss?”

“Yeah. I think all those billionaire CEO types know each other,” Guy told him. Then, he added, “I think Lord had lunch meetings with Lex sometimes.”

“Lord mentioned Stagg was working on a superhero of his own,” Michael spoke up. He tilted his head ever so slightly, like he was looking at Rex in the reflection of the windshield. “That you?”

“I don’t know about working on. I mutated four years ago,” Rex answered. Guy tried to do the math in his head before realizing he didn’t actually know what he was calculating. Rex’s time with powers compared to Guy’s career with the Corps? How long had Superman been active? Since the formation of the Justice Gang? It didn’t really matter, he supposed, but four years was longer than he expected, especially considering he hadn’t seen him around. “Stagg and I were talking a little more recently about me going more public, though.”

“How come?” Hawkgirl asked, leaning over in her chair a bit. “Competition with us and- shit, what was Lex’s thing called? The World Peace Team?”

“Something dumb like that,” Guy responded. He jabbed a finger in her direction. “You say Justice Gang’s a bad name but you gotta admit, it’s way better than World Peace Team.”

“Barely.”

“It’s a modern take on superhero history! We literally live in the JSA’s old base. It’s an homage.”

“Stagg wasn’t building his own team,” Rex interrupted before Kendra and Guy could start arguing over the team name again. He held up the baby a bit. “Joey’s a metahuman too, and he’s going to grow up as one. I- I didn’t handle my mutation all that well. I did missions with Stagg and used my powers when I had to, but I never really connected with anyone else with powers. Sapph and I thought it’d be good for me to, I don’t know, get to know the meta community, so we’d have some idea about the world Joey was going into.”

“And the easiest way to do that was to become a superhero?”

Rex shrugged. “Stagg’s idea. I’ve used my powers to help people before, and I’ve worked with other superheroes. I just- It feels weird… I don’t know, what do you call doing what you do?”

“Being awesome,” Guy said, even though he knew that wasn’t what Rex was looking for.

“Saving people?” Kendra tried, but Rex still looked uncertain.

“Being in the public eye,” Terrific suggested, and Guy saw some kind of recognition flash in Rex’s eyes.

“Yeah. That. Being in the public eye. Not that many people have seen me like this,” Rex said, gesturing to his face with his free hand. Guy hadn’t actually looked at him all that closely. His skin did look sort of weird with that patchwork of colors, but it hadn’t actually clocked as unusual to him until now. Maybe he was just desensitized from visiting Oa. Guy had seen plenty of weirder-looking aliens in his day. “Not people who know me as Rex anyway. But Stagg thought it was a good idea, and I guess I could see where he was coming from.”

“It’s weird you call your father-in-law by his last name,” Kendra commented, and Rex made a bit of a face.

“You’ll get it when you meet him,” Rex told her, and Guy did. It wasn’t instant, but five minutes in, he got it. This guy did not feel like he should have a first name.

Michael parked the T-Ship near a sprawling mansion that screamed billionaire. No, old billionaire. Something right out of a movie. Guy was pretty sure neither Lex nor Lord had a place like this. He knew his mouth was gaping a little as he, Kendra, Michael, and Rex approached the front door. It had one of those handle knocker things on it, and Guy almost asked Rex if he could knock it. One of his neighbors from when he was a kid had one of those, Guy thought, if he was remembering right. He was never tall enough to try knocking it, though, and his dad never picked him up, so he could give it a try.

They just kind of stood there for a bit, Rex letting Joey reach out and paw at the knocker, even though the baby was nowhere near strong enough to actually lift it. Guy didn’t say anything even though he wanted to. He didn’t know what he wanted to say, just that he wanted to say something. But once he started to cook up some comment about how they were taking forever, Rex reached up, putting his hand on the handle alongside Joey’s, and gave the door a couple firm knocks. 

A caveman-looking guy in a purple suit answered the door, which Guy really wasn’t expecting. “Metamorpho?”

“Hey, Java,” Rex greeted evenly. Guy tried to deduce if Rex was happy to see him or not, but Rex kept talking before he could even begin to decide. “Is Stagg around?”

The caveman flinched, turning to run into the house, hollering for Stagg. “Master! Master! Come quickly!”

Guy heard some noises in the house, something that sounded like Java tripping, and some unintelligible words that must have been Stagg. He sounded angry, likely interrupted from something or another. But, Guy could hear Java’s insistence, and Stagg gave in, letting the caveman bring him to the door. “I told you, Java, I don’t want-”

Stagg cut himself off when his eyes fell on the visitors. Guy couldn’t see Rex’s expression from where he stood behind him, but he could hear the half-smile on his voice. “Surprise.”

“Joey!” Stagg exclaimed and reached for the baby. Rex didn’t pass him over, but he let Stagg put his hands around him. Guy wasn’t really sure what he was doing. Checking if he was alright? Making sure he was real? Some weird baby thing? All were equally likely in Guy’s mind.

“Good to see you too, Pops,” Rex said a little sarcastically, and Stagg’s head snapped up.

“Rex, my boy!” Stagg said, and even Guy thought it was a bit much. “I’d thought the worst!”

The exchange continued, and Guy found himself exchanging glances with Kendra and Michael. This guy seemed… so fake. Was fake even the right word? Disingenuous? That still didn’t feel right. He didn’t know. The image Guy had of Stagg in his mind before meeting him screamed billionaire, and the sight before him both did and didn’t match that image. 

He wasn’t in a suit, for one. Guy didn’t really keep up with this sort of thing, but he knew who Simon Stagg was, and he’d seen plenty of pictures of him. Never a picture of him out of a suit, though. Stagg was at home, though, so it made sense. Guy still expected billionaire CEOs to look at least a little together at home, and Stagg wasn’t really meeting that expectation. He kind of looked like shit. And really old. Mostly like shit though.

Kendra elbowed Guy in the ribs like she could sense his brain-to-mouth filter about to fail to keep his thoughts in his head. She leaned over a bit, not quite reaching up to his ear but still leaning close enough to hiss, “He’s grieving. He just lost his daughter.”

Oh right. Okay, yeah. That made sense. Guy shouldn’t be judging. Guy had been around a long time, but he hadn’t really experienced a loss like that. Fellow Green Lanterns mowed down in battle? Sure. That sucked but it was part of the job. Extended family members croaking? Yup. It was just part of life. Strangers and acquaintances he didn’t really know? Definitely. Again, part of the job, part of life. But nowhere anywhere close to a daughter. 

Wait. His dad died. But his dad sucked, so that didn’t really count. It was the closest thing he had, though. Guy didn’t really want to think about his dad, but he probably should. It was probably the best thing he had to relate to what Rex and Stagg were going through right now.

Rex didn’t seem to like this Stagg guy all that much either. It took Guy a couple minutes of listening in to realize it, but Rex was being kind of curt. “Did you- You know, Sapph had this- I don’t know what it’s called. List of things to do if she died. Did she ever talk to you about it?”

Guy suddenly felt like he was standing a little too close for this type of conversation. He glanced at Kendra again, saw her expression mirroring his own wide eyes, and they silently agreed that it’d be worse to step away than stay. Still, Guy tried his best not to listen. This felt way too personal for someone he’d just met the day before. It was sort of interesting, sure, and maybe he should be thinking about what he wanted to do with his body once he died, but still way too personal.

Stagg hadn’t known about Sapphire’s wishes, it seemed, and Rex seemed kind of upset, but remained civil and kept talking. It all seemed weirdly logistical. Had Guy been like this when his dad died? He couldn’t remember, but he didn’t think he’d been sitting around talking about his feelings or anything like that. Rex and Stagg talked about whether Stagg had people go through Rex and Sapphire’s home, where Sapphire’s body had gone, whether Stagg had reported Rex and Joey dead too, what Sapph’s will looked like, stuff like that. Really brief too, the conversation not lasting more than a few minutes before Rex told Stagg he was leaving.

It was just really weird. Guy didn’t know what else to call it. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. When Rex mentioned his wife died… He didn’t know. He didn’t get it. He couldn’t imagine a loss like that. Still, he thought he still sort of understood it.

They rode back in silence. Michael and Kendra waved Rex farewell before heading off to their rooms, and Guy thought they were pretty respectful about it, even though it was obvious they were fleeing. They’d shown their support, but now they were done, and they didn’t want to be here anymore. Guy respected it. He knew he should do the same, but the words had been stewing in his head the whole flight back, and he couldn’t just let them stay there.

“Most of us live here at the Hall, but it’s cool if you want to live at home full-time or just do Justice Gang work part-time,” Guy told him, knowing what direction he was going but still feeling kind of lost. “Lord’s got a real good payment system too. I mean, I guess you’re rich, but if you have weird feelings about money. He just kind of lets us spend whatever as long as it’s kind of relevant to what we’re doing. If you wanted to live here with us, I’m sure no one would mind if you got, like, a nanny or something.”

Rex looked surprised, blinking at him a couple times before speaking. “...Thanks. Really.”

Guy gave him a two-fingered salute and turned to leave, sticking his hands into his pockets and using one to pull out his phone. Once he was around a corner and out of sight, he clicked the notes app open, scrolling past dozens of notes just like the one he was about to write, and got a quick bullet list going. He’d forget this conversation, probably, but after everything he saw and learned today, no way was he going to let Rex and Joey suffer for it.

Chapter Text

Kendra got a text that there was trouble downtown because Michael was a genius and a man of the people who knew that an actual alarm system was not the way to go if they were going to continue working as a team. She pulled on her costume, channeled her power to make her wings burst from her back, and hurried out to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the team.

Guy and Rex were already there when she arrived, not having to do much to get ready. They should probably get Rex a uniform to match the rest of the team, shouldn’t they? Or would it just fall off when he used his powers? Then again, those shorts seemed to remain intact. Maybe they could work with that. Something for another time.

Michael arrived just a few steps behind Kendra, T-Spheres spinning behind him. He rattled off a few lines of instructions, and they were off. They moved fast, but they’d all been superheroes long enough that they knew they didn’t have to hurry. Terrific would have warned them if they had to be in panic mode, but there were a few situations where the few seconds they gained from flying a little faster would make much of a difference. This wasn’t one of them.

“Some kind of robot monkeys,” Terrific reported as they came upon their destination. They rounded a corner, and Kendra saw that he was right. Well, she couldn’t see the robot part, but there were definitely monkeys on the street. More than she could count. A few dozen, probably, and that was assuming the monkeys hadn’t spread to where she couldn’t see.

People had cleared from the area, and cars on nearby streets were veering out of the way once they saw the pack of animals on the street. It was a little hectic, but it didn’t look like there’d been much destruction. Some of the monkeys had gotten into some trash cans and began throwing their contents around, but that was about it. Mostly, they were climbing the street lights and surrounding buildings. The problem was more the fact that they were there than anything else, but that didn’t change that there was, in fact, a problem.

Kendra flew forward, mace ready, when Metamorpho called out. “Wait, don’t hurt them!”

Superman was always saying stuff like that, and the team usually ignored him, but when Kendra glanced back to respond, she realized he might have a point.

Metamorpho was standing on the sidewalk, a monkey cradled in each arm. He had more perched on his shoulders, and more climbing on the tentacles he’d sprouted from his back. They seemed… peaceful? Docile, even. They weren’t attacking him.

“They’re friendly,” Metamorpho told him, and Kendra could see it.

“Ow, fuck!” Lantern cried out, almost on cue, as he tried to grab one of the monkeys. “It bit me!”

“They’re mostly friendly,” Metamorpho amended. “They’re the monkeys from Lex’s pocket dimension.”

“The ones who came up with #supershit?” Lantern asked, looking up from where he was still trying to wrangle the monkey who’d bit him. It struck a note in Kendra’s mind, but not much more. So much had come out about Lex that she couldn’t keep up with it all, but she’d read the Daily Planet article that was published during the fight and tried to keep up with the updates as more and more came out about Lex’s business practices. She was surprised Guy knew, though. It must have shown on her face because a moment later, Lantern cried, “I read!”

“He saw a meme about it,” Terrific said without looking over, controlling his T-Spheres as they circled some of the monkeys, cornering them in.

“I saw a meme about it,” Lantern admitted, “but it was a good meme.”

“They’re pretty much normal monkeys, other than knowing how to type. Maybe a little smarter,” Rex told them. “They mostly just played with Krypto after Cl- um, Superman and I unplugged their computers. They’re pretty sweet, actually.”

“Okay, I’d feel pretty bad beating up a bunch of abused animals,” Lantern announced, now holding the monkey he’d been wrestling with. It still looked fairly unhappy, but it wasn’t fighting him anymore. “What do we do with them then?”

“Get them off the streets, then figure it out,” Terrific suggested. “Could you make some kind of box to put them in? Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and I can start putting them in there.”

“Waste of my power much?” Lantern complained but did as he was told, creating a big green cube at the end of the street. After a couple moments, it hollowed out, bars appearing to make it more like a zoo cage from a cartoon. “There’s a hole on the top, dump them in there.”

Terrific, Kendra, and Metamorpho got to work, rounding up the monkeys on the surrounding streets to put in Lantern’s cage. To her chagrin, Kendra wasn’t nearly as good at herding monkeys as Terrific or Metamorpho. The monkeys didn’t seem to like the T-Spheres, so Terrific just had to surround a group of them and scare them in Lantern’s direction, so he could scoop them into the cage. Metamorpho, on the other hand, could just use his tendrils to grab the monkeys, and the monkeys seemed to like him enough that they didn’t fight it.

That wasn’t the case for Kendra. The monkeys always tried to bite or scratch her if she went for them. The only times they didn’t was when she handled them carefully and took them one at a time. Total waste of time, but she didn’t want to get clawed up by a monkey, so she did her best.

Superman showed up after awhile, face lighting up and making a beeline for Metamorpho. “Bubbles!”

Kendra thought it was some kind of weird pet name before she realized he was talking to the monkey Metamorpho was holding. Metamorpho extended one of his tendrils, reaching up to deposit the monkey in Superman’s arms. The monkey chattered excitedly as Superman cooed over it.

“You named the monkey?” Lantern asked, cocking a brow. 

“We named all of them,” Superman told him and started pointing around the battlefield. “Rex is holding Pippy, Razzle, and Bismuth, Hawkgirl’s got Iodine, and the T-Spheres are circling around Barb, Copper, and Zinc.”

“I can tell who named which ones,” Terrific commented a little sarcastically.

Metamorpho looked a little embarrassed, but Superman just shrugged it off. “It’s not like we had much to do in there. We had to keep ourselves entertained somehow.”

“You had all the time in the world, and you couldn’t think of better names than elements?” Kendra asked, looking in Metamorpho’s direction. He didn’t look so embarrassed anymore.

“It was to keep track of them. I had a system,” Metamorpho told her. “I can do a good job naming things when it actually matters.”

Superman’s expression shifted abruptly. “Where’s Joey?”

“With Fleurette,” Metamorpho assured him easily. “She was in the pocket dimension longer than we were, so she lost her job, and she’s good with Joey, and she didn’t want to live with her parents, so I hired her to take care of him when I have to leave.”

It’d been a few days since Metamorpho joined the team, so Kendra had the time to properly meet Joey and Fleurette. It was kind of weird having them around the Hall, though Metamorpho had his old apartment in Metroplois, so he wasn’t around a hundred percent of the time. Kendra didn’t not like it. Joey was cute and didn’t cry that much compared to the other babies she’d been around, and it’d be nice to have another girl around, though she hadn’t actually gotten the chance to interact with Fleurette much.

Superman relaxed a little at Metamorpho’s words, and the group got back to work. It went a lot faster with Superman here. When she noticed it, Kendra slowed down a bit before giving up altogether to go stand by Lantern and just watch everyone else wrestle the monkeys into the cage.

Metamorpho and Superman worked well together, she realized, and it didn’t even look like they realized they were doing it. Metamorpho was a mess of tentacles by now, plucking up monkeys left and right. He was clinging to Superman’s cape, letting Superman drag him around as he went after some of the harder-to-reach monkeys. When he grabbed one, he just passed it off to Metamorpho, who could hold a lot more than him. When they took a trip back to the cage to deposit the monkeys, they had far more than Terrific could manage to round up between his T-Spheres with his herding trick. They didn’t even have to talk about it. It was like they could just read each other’s body language and mesh together perfectly. 

“I ship it,” Kendra told Guy, and she got a perplexed look in response.

“What?”

“Nevermind. I’ll tell you later,” Kendra told him. He’d hate it, she knew it, but that was half the fun.

The group slowed down, and Superman flew up to sweep the area with his X-ray vision. He caught a few stragglers, but soon declared, “That’s all of them.”

“Great,” Guy responded flatly. “What do we do with them now? Because I’m not holding them like this forever.”

“A zoo, maybe?” Kendra suggested, but her heart wasn’t in it. When she’d been collecting the monkeys, she’d seen the cybernetic enhancements. Assuming they didn’t need regular maintenance, a regular monkey enclosure probably still wouldn’t be enough for them to keep them happy. Rex mentioned they were smarter, and it wasn’t like regular zoos were known for being intellectually stimulating enough for their non-enhanced inhabitants.

“Fly them to the Fortress with me?” Clark suggested, looking in Guy’s direction. “It’s pretty spacious, and I’ve got an idea for where to put them, at least temporarily.”

“Sure. I’ll just fly to Antarctica,” Guy said, sounding displeased, but Kendra knew he wasn’t actually. That was just how Guy was. He rose up, the cage moving with him, and left without waiting for Clark.

Clark didn’t seem to care. He flashed a smile at Kendra and Michael, friendly as ever, then focused on Rex. “It was good seeing you. Say hi to Joey for me.”

Rex nodded, some emotion Kendra couldn’t pinpoint enveloping his face. He waved almost absent-mindedly as Clark turned to fly after Guy.

“See you guys back at the Hall,” Michael told them, and then he was off. Stupid chair. Not everyone could fly that fast! Kendra’s wings got tired. Sometimes she wanted to take it slow and save her energy, but no. Michael and Guy used tech to fly and didn’t have to worry about things like that. Rex, it seemed, was more her speed, though. He could go faster if he wanted, probably, but he flew by turning part of his body into gas, and gas didn’t move that fast. Kendra didn’t mind. She appreciated the company. And she had questions.

“You and Superman seem close,” Kendra started, hoping Rex would pick up on her efforts to start a conversation. Both Guy and Michael were terrible at that sort of thing, and she thought Rex might be the same, but it didn’t seem that was the case.

“We shared a cell in the pocket dimension. We probably sat next to each other for months,” Rex told her. Then, unprompted, he added, “I miss him.”

Okay, Kendra had joked about shipping them, but now that she had a better look at Rex’s expression, she could see some kind of real emotion on his face. He cared about him, he had to. Probably not romantically. As far as she knew, both Clark and Rex had a pretty heterosexual record. This was real life, not fanfic, and the majority of men weren’t secretly gay. Still, Rex cared, and that was something. “That makes sense.”

He kept talking. “We talked a lot. About our lives, about Joey, about Sapph. Krypto and the monkeys.  His work, my work. Our powers. Krypton. And just… stuff. And when we weren’t talking, it wasn’t awkward or anything. We were close, or at least I think we were. Maybe I just got caught up in the Superman of it all. But I haven’t seen him since we escaped.”

“It makes sense that you’d miss him,” Kendra repeated, a plan starting to form in her mind. “You can just go see him, you know. I’m sure he’d like to hang out.”

“I’m sure he’s busy,” Rex said a little distantly. Kendra had to nip that mindset in the bud fast.

“Not really. He’s got his job, but everyone’s got a job. And being a superhero doesn’t actually take that much time. And, you know, he moved here, so he doesn’t actually know that many people. He hangs out with us, like, all the time. I’ll give you his number when we get back to the Hall. Really, I’m sure he’d like to hang out, especially if you guys were as close as you said you were.”

Rex looked surprised. “I- Thanks. Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

Kendra nodded, and they flew the last block or so in a comfortable silence. She wasn’t going to explain her shipping joke with Guy, she decided. Why were the only people she was around these days old men? Clark, Guy, Michael, and Rex weren’t actually that old, but they wouldn’t appreciate all the brilliant little things her mind cooked up.

Fleurette probably would. She was a bit older than Kendra, probably around Clark and Rex’s age, but Kendra sensed a kindred spirit. Plus, she’d been imprisoned with Clark and Rex. She probably had enough gossip to see if Kendra’s theory about Rex and Clark’s feelings, however far-fetched, actually had any weight.

Chapter Text

“Is it weird that I’m nervous?” Rex asked when he brought Joey over to Fleurette to watch for the night. He’d set her up with her own space in the Hall of Justice, so he really hadn’t actually gone all that far, but the act of bringing Joey to her made it feel like he was… He didn’t know, hiring a babysitter so he could have a date night. But that wasn’t what this was. 

“It’s weird,” Fleurette told him bluntly, but she was smiling. “It’s just Clark. You know him. You literally were with him nearly every minute of every day for months.”

“It’s not Clark,” Rex told her, then paused. “Well, maybe a little bit. We’ve only seen each other a couple times outside of the pocket dimension. I don’t know if I know how to be around him out of it. But that’s not it.”

“What is it?” Fleurette asked patiently, and it did feel a little patronizing even though Rex knew she absolutely wasn’t being patronizing. 

“I haven’t done this in years,” Rex told her, then realized that was pretty vague. He tried again. “I haven’t really been outside since I got my powers. I mean, not literally, I would go outside, but look at me.”

He gestured at his face. Fleurette didn’t flinch. He didn’t know why she thought she would. Nothing had changed in that moment, and he’d known her for even longer than Clark now. “So?”

“I don’t remember how to be normal friends with people. I can’t be normal friends with people. Clark has a secret identity. Everyone’s going to be looking at us if they see us somewhere together.”

“I don’t think he would care,” Fleurette told him, then kept talking before Rex could speak up again. “But tell him that. He’ll understand. You guys could hang out as Superman and Metamorpho, if you wanted. You didn’t really know him as just Superman or just Clark, so it probably wouldn’t be all that different if you did one or another.”

That made sense. A little sheepishly, he said, “Thanks. Sorry, this feels a little like a mom hyping her son up before prom night.”

“Hey. You’re older than me,” Fleurette told him, and Rex let her have it even though he was pretty sure he couldn’t be more than a couple years older than her. She elbowed him in the shoulder. “Go have fun with your friend. Me and Joey will be fine.”

Rex thanked her, and then he was off.

He met Clark on a rooftop because they were superheroes and that was what they did, apparently. Clark’s face lit up when he saw him. “Rex!”

“Clark,” Rex greeted easily, feeling a little bit better now that he was actually here. Fleurette was right. It was just Clark. He moved to hug him, which Rex wasn’t really expecting but wasn’t opposed to. He reciprocated, and they exchanged pleasantries before refocusing on the matter at hand. “We didn’t really decide what we were going to do. We could just- I don’t know, sit around and talk, but we did a lot of that in the pocket dimension.”

“You know what we didn’t do in the pocket dimension?” Clark asked before his expression rapidly shifted. He looked surprised? Then strained. Then… Rex didn’t know. Embarrassed? Mortified? He didn’t have the faintest clue why. “Sorry!”

“What for?” Rex asked, genuinely confused. There was nothing wrong with what Clark said. 

Clark started rambling. “That sounded like the start of a pick-up line. There was just kind of one stirring in my head, and then I was like, I shouldn’t say that! But then I started talking, and then I was like really, Clark? Are you that bad at hiding your feelings? And then- I don’t know, just thinking a bunch of things at once. Like, I hadn’t thought about how it’s only been a little more than a week since you lost your week, and I don’t even know if you like guys, and I really just want to keep being friends right now, and that’s a really weird energy to bring to our first time hanging out.”

Rex felt his mind go blank.

“Rex?” Clark tried, looking worried. It was cute, and that thought spurred Rex’s mind back into motion. “Rex?”

It… It made sense. He’d unconsciously compared his meeting with Clark to a date when he’d been talking with Fleurette. Even if they hadn’t talked about it, maybe Clark and Rex had somehow gotten onto the same page. What page that was, Rex didn’t know. It felt like this was all happening very suddenly.

“You… You like me?” Rex asked slowly.

Clark looked a little sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”

“Aren’t you with Lois?” Rex asked, and it felt like his brain was grasping at straws.

Clark… He didn’t deflate. He settled? Like a house settling, not like a cat or dog settling. It was the tiniest movement, but all of Rex’s senses were tunneled on Clark right now. “We broke up. Not because of you! I just… The pocket dimension changed things.”

“The pocket dimension changed things,” Rex repeated almost absentmindedly, before his head circled back to the topic at hand. “You like me?”

“Yeah,” Clark said again, softer this time. He kept talking, explaining… explaining something that Rex wasn’t sure he really got. About how they’d always been together in the pocket dimension, about what Rex’s presence had meant. About how he wanted to keep that, how it felt like what he wanted in a partner. In a relationship.

Rex… didn’t feel like that.

He got it, though. That presence, that constantness. He was used to looking over his shoulder and seeing Clark there. But he probably wouldn’t describe it like Clark did. He’d thought of it more as absence than presence. Clark was focused on what he felt when they’d been in that cell. Rex was focused on what he felt when they were out of it. 

Rex tried to think of what drew him to Sapphire. She was hot, that was what first caught his attention, but Rex knew he wasn’t that shallow of a guy. Such things hadn’t mattered to him in awhile, and that hadn’t really been what he cared about before. Still, he had eyes, and he knew Clark was attractive. One of the more attractive guys he knew, probably. He’d noticed but never put much thought into it before.

Rex knew he felt something, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t physical, not now at least. The way Clark talked about his feelings was a little too abstract for him. He tried to focus on what was tangible. Clark was his friend. He was kind. He was smart. But a lot of people were. In movies, when people said what they loved about someone, Rex thought it sounded dull. Meaningless. The characteristics someone said they loved about someone were characteristics practically everyone had. Anyone could have a good sense of humor, a stunning smile, and a big heart. Real love was something else entirely. 

But maybe he was getting ahead of himself. Why compare what he had with Clark to a love story when they weren’t anywhere close to that yet? Clark had just told him he had feelings for him, and that was it. Nothing more. Relationships didn’t start with love. It started with something smaller, something that could grow. The question was whether Rex liked him.

He thought he might. There was something there, at least.

“I don’t feel that way about you,” Rex said slowly. Almost immediately, this crushed look consumed Clark’s face. Rex felt a stab of guilt immediately and tried to recover. “The way you were describing it, I mean. It makes sense, but that’s not really what I’m feeling. I… want you here. That’s probably how I’d describe how I feel right now.”

The realization was gentle, like it just kind of crept up on him. The reaction wasn’t quite as gentle, though. Once he said it aloud, it felt like it’d slammed into him. Oh fuck, he liked him. Not quite at the same level as Clark, probably, but something was being reciprocated. And that was enough to totally throw Rex off. He didn’t want to like him! His wife had just died, for crying out loud!

But, like Clark had said, the pocket dimension changed things. He still felt the loss, the absence, but he’d had time to grieve, process, and, apparently, move on. It still felt a bit fast for him, though, and nothing had even happened yet.

Clark’s face lit up again. He was so expressive. Rex had noticed it before, of course, but it meant something totally different now. Clark looked hopeful, but that feeling was quickly replaced. “You don’t have to force yourself. I understand if you aren’t ready for this kind of thing, or if you don’t like men. We can still be friends.”

“I do!” Rex said quickly. “I do like men, I mean. I’m just super repressed.”

Rex hadn’t meant to say that, and didn’t realize he had until surprise flashed across Clark’s face. Rex froze, feeling his features go stiff, when Clark started laughing. Rex couldn’t help but join him, and that just made Clark laugh that much harder.

“Look at us!” Clark exclaimed, jesting, once he’d gotten a grip on himself again. “Seriously, though, it’s okay if you need some time.”

Rex nodded gratefully. “Yeah. I… I need to think about it a bit.”

“Do you want to go? We can still hang out, but I feel like I made it really awkward.”

“We can still hang out. I still want to see you,” Rex told him. Then, feeling a bit bold, he said, “I don’t know what we can do, though. I mean, like you said, there were a lot of things we couldn’t do when we were in the pocket dimension, but a lot of them are things I couldn’t even do before we were in the pocket dimension.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asked, and Rex realized he was serious. He didn’t know. Or, he hadn’t thought about it at least.

“I mean, look at me. I’m a freak,” Rex said, gesturing at his face like he had with Fleurette. Clark opened his mouth to protest, but Rex cut him off. “Don’t. I know what I am. I’m okay with it, or at least I’m trying to be, but that doesn’t change the fact I can’t really be around humans.”

“Other humans,” Clark corrected. “You’re more human than I am, and I think I’m still pretty human.”

Rex understood the sentiment, but it wasn’t really what he needed to hear. “I know. I look different, though. No amount of positivity or reframing is going to change that.”

Clark looked like he had an idea. “My hypno-glasses. Maybe they could do something for you.”

Hope flared in Rex’s belly, but he quickly quashed it down. He couldn’t let himself get too far ahead. “Maybe? I think there’s a pretty big difference between making you look a little different and making me… not white, orange, purple, and bald.” 

“It could be worth a try. I’m sure the Superman Robots could cook something up.” He paused. “We could go to the Fortress. There aren’t other people there, so you wouldn’t have to worry about standing out. The Superman Robots can get whatever they need to make you the hypno-glasses, and we can… I don’t know. Look at Kryptonian stuff. Play with Krypto and the monkeys a bit.”

“I forgot you had the monkeys,” Rex said, smiling, and the plan was set.

The Fortress of Solitude wasn’t exactly a short flight away, so Clark had to carry Rex, holding onto him with one hand and pulling him after him as he flew. It was a bit too much closeness for Rex so soon after their talk, at least for now, but he quickly forgot about it once they arrived in the Fortress. 

As promised, they spent the next while just putzing around the Fortress. The Superman Robots collected the data they needed to make Rex a pair of hypno-glasses, Krypto got the chance to say hi to Rex, Clark showed Rex his setup for Lex’s monkeys, and they just had the chance to be together for a bit. It was nice, so much so that Rex got caught up in it enough to forget about the conversation he’d had with Clark at the beginning of the night. At least for a bit.

The next morning, when he saw Kendra rooting around the cabinets in their base’s kitchen, Rex had to ask. “What exactly were you thinking when you gave me Clark’s number?”

In an instant, she was locked onto him, abandoning her search for snacks. “Why? Is there tea? Come on, tell me.”

Rex didn’t know if he wanted to, but he had to talk about it with someone, so he did anyway. “I don’t know if there’s, um, tea. Nothing really happened. But, um, Clark told me he has feelings for me, so I thought maybe you knew something.”

Kendra looked gobsmacked, so Rex figured, no, she hadn’t been planning that. “No! I was manifesting it, though. But I didn’t think anything would actually happen!”

“What?” Manifesting it? Did Kendra have some kind of power he didn’t know about? They hadn’t sat down to talk about the nature of her power like Rex hoped they eventually would, but he was pretty sure Hawkgirl didn’t have the power to give people feelings.

“I don’t know. You guys seemed close, and I thought you’d be cute together. I didn’t actually think anything would happen, though,” she repeated, not really answering the question Rex had asked but still answering another. “I mean, Lois, your wife, I thought you were both straight.”

Rex realized he may or may not have outed Clark and froze. Then, he realized not saying anything might be worse. “He broke up with Lois a bit ago. You know, the whole time thing. We didn’t really talk about our sexual orientations, but I guess he likes guys.”

“And you?” she asked. She leaned back a bit. “Respectfully, I really thought you were straight. Wait, you do like him too, right?”

“I’m… bi. And yes,” Rex said slowly. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever told anyone that, using those words at least. He’d told his wife he guys, of course. He couldn’t think of anyone else. It hadn’t really been a big part of his life, other than its effect on his relationship with his family. “I, um, haven’t been with a guy since I was a teenager, though. My parents… Well, they didn’t kick me out, but there’s a reason I joined the military at eighteen.”

“Oh. Oh . That sucks, man.”

“Yeah. It’s fine, though.”

“So… You and Clark?”

Rex shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about him, but it’s not… nothing. We both have a lot going on, so I’m just going to meditate on how I feel, I guess, and see where it goes.”

Kendra nodded and hummed in acknowledgement. They were quiet for a moment before Kendra asked, “Wanna watch a movie or something?”

Not really, but Rex really should be getting to know his new teammates. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”

Kendra started talking, and Rex followed her out of the kitchen, mind slipping from but never quite leaving thoughts of Clark.

Chapter Text

“...and that’s why we welcome Metamorpho, the Element Man,” Lantern announced, voice booming over the crowd, “as the newest member of the Justice Gang!”

“Name pending,” Hawkgirl quipped as Metamorpho materialized beside Lantern, shifting from an invisible gas to his usual form. Terrific watched, hanging toward the back of the group, as the crowd collectively made a noise of surprise before erupting into applause. His eyes flicked to his T-Spheres overhead, making sure they were lined up right to get some good footage of the display.

Rex had been a part of the team a few days before Guy, Kendra, and Michael decided to tell Maxwell Lord about it. Lord was pretty hands off, letting the team do as they pleased for the most part, but he was still technically their employer, and that meant his opinions mattered. Luckily, Rex seemed to know how to turn on the charm when it mattered and impressed Lord with a simple demonstration of his abilities. A quick background check later and Lord had his people setting up a PR appearance to announce the new addition to the team.

“LordTech remains interested in the protection of the planet and navigating this new metahuman era we find ourselves in,” Lord told the crowd, taking Lantern’s spot at the podium with the microphone for a moment. He turned, gesturing to Metamorpho with an open palm. “Our newest member is just the latest step in that endeavor. I have full faith he will uphold the Justice Gang’s good name.”

“Name pending,” Hawkgirl said again as Metamorpho stepped up to the mic. They were outside the Hall of Justice, a simple set up on one of the landings that broke up up the long set of stairs leading up to the building. Terrific, Lantern, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and Lord stood with their backs to the Hall, a few LordTech employees hovering off to the side. A crowd of maybe forty was assembled before them, with more pedestrians lingering at the edges. A good photo opportunity, Terrific noted, and sent his T-Spheres to circle around again. They never knew when they needed promotional material, and Terrific trusted his tech more than the given photographer.

“Thank you, Maxwell,” Metamorpho said into the mic, eyes on Lord before turning to address the crowd. He sounded nothing like the Rex that Terrific was used to. He’d seemed pretty nervous when they were practicing but he had assured the team he could do it, that he didn’t need to put on a more stoic persona like Terrific did for the public, and he was right. He wasn’t brash, not like Guy was, but he was confident. 

Metamorpho went on to thank the Justice Gang for the opportunity, the pleasantries, before circling back to Lord’s statement to talk about metahuman presence. He acknowledged his appearance, gave a few lines about wanting to better the lives of people like himself, and talked about his desire to continue defending Metropolis and the world. Rehearsed, of course, but the crowd ate it up, as far as Terrific could tell at least.

“We have time for a few questions,” Lantern said, stepping up a bit to share the podium with Metamorpho. Clark was in the crowd, Terrific noted, and he wondered if they were going to call on him. There was no reason not to, but Clark was pretty big on the whole secret identity thing. He might not want to get singled out.

There were a variety of questions, most of them not focused on Metamorpho. Questions about Lex Luthor, the implications of team’s presence in Jarhanpur, if they believed Superman had a secret haram, whether the team was planning on taking on new members, that kind of thing. Hawkgirl stepped up to answer most of those. Guy may be the leader, but Kendra was better at this sort of thing, and Guy wasn’t insecure enough not to admit it. The questions did eventually come back to Rex, though.

“Daily Planet?” Lantern said, tilting his head to the section of the crowd where the Daily Planet reporters were cluttered. Terrific saw Clark open his mouth, but it was Lois who spoke up.

“Metamorpho, your powers have extraordinary implications,” Lois began. “Does LordTech have any intention of including any of your abilities in any future projects?”

It felt like a trick question but Terrific remained silent, trusting his teammates and sponsor to handle the question. Metamorpho glanced at Lord before refocusing on Lois. “Any specific projects in mind?”

“I understand you were known to be associated with Stagg Industries. I imagine your unique physiology was helpful to its chemical and genetic research, and its weapons development. What is your current relationship with Stagg Industries? Do you plan to have a similar relationship with LordTech?”

It was an unexpected question, but from what Terrific knew about Lois, this was kind of just how she was. Always digging in hard where it wasn’t expected, anywhere she got a whiff of something. Still, not great for them. Terrific couldn’t see any of his teammates’ faces from where he stood but he knew they were thrown.

“Let me be clear,” Lord said, swooping in to speak into the mic, “LordTech is not involved in any weapons manufacturing.”

“I gained my powers while doing contract work for Stagg Industries. They are not the source of my metahuman abilities,” Metamorpho clarified, “and they have studied my physiology, but I never consented for any of that data to be used for any reason other than to better understand my body and my health. I did not part with Stagg Industries on unfriendly terms, but I am committed to the Justice Gang and do not plan to return working for Stagg.”

Some of that charm had been lost, Terrific noticed, Metamorpho’s words becoming stiff. To the point, which was necessary but may be hard to come back from. Lois looked like she wanted to keep pressing, but Lantern interrupted before she could. “That’s all the time we got for today! If any of you want to grab some photos, we’ll hang around for a bit. Thanks for coming by.”

It was an obvious dismissal but the crowd began dispersing without much complaint. Lantern and Hawkgirl stepped off with Lord to talk to someone or another. Terrific hovered near Metamorpho, not hanging too close but letting his presence be known. He saw Clark break away from the crowd, hurrying up the stairs toward them. A couple Daily Planet staff members trailed behind him, Lois and some guy Terrific didn’t recognize.

“You did great,” Clark told Rex, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder. His touch lingered, Michael noticed. Rex didn’t seem to though, just smiling in Clark direction.

“You know him?” the guy that Michael didn’t know said as he caught up with Clark. Clark jolted, seeming surprised by his companion’s appearance.

“Um, yeah. I was stuck in Lex’s pocket dimension too, remember?” Clark told the guy, and Michael hadn’t known that. Hadn’t known Clark was claiming he’d been imprisoned, anyway. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly true either and A.R.G.U.S. didn’t have record of it. Michael made a mental note to add it in case it caused Clark problems later. “Re-Metamorpho, Terrific, this is Jimmy. Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy’s the one who got us all that info about Lex.”

“Really?” Rex sounded impressed. “Good job. You might’ve saved us. Clark and me, I mean. And Superman.”

“I read the piece Clark wrote with the interviews from the people who’d been in there,” Jimmy told Rex. “I can’t imagine being stuck in there. It’s awesome you’re getting involved in the superhero business after all that, though!”

“Thanks.”

“Lois Lane,” Lois said, pushing forward a bit. “I’m sure Clark told you about me.”

“He did,” Rex answered, and there was something in his voice. It was sort of flat but there were undertones of something Michael could just barely pick up.

“Sorry for putting you on the spot like that,” Lois said, running her fingers through her hair to make it align with her part a bit better, “but, you know, that’s journalism.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not offended or anything,” Rex assured her. “I probably should’ve mentioned it. I think all of my public appearances were when I was doing something or another with Stagg. I didn’t think anyone would notice.”

“All?” Lois echoed. She leaned forward a bit. “Why the change of heart, then?”

“Careful,” Clark cautioned, flicking his eyes to meet Rex’s. “Anything you say to her his on the record.”

Lois elbowed Clark in the ribs. “You’re no fun. You don’t have to answer. I’m probably not going to be the one writing the article covering this, but I’m curious.”

“Secret identity stuff,” Rex told her and shrugged, following Clark’s advice and keeping quiet. It was a good idea, Michael thought. Even something as simple as saying he had a personal relationship with Stagg and that’d changed may be enough to let someone like Lois connect the dots back to Rex’s secret identity. Then again, did he even really have a secret identity? None of the team were huge on it, not bothering to do much to keep their identities all that hidden, though Guy was the only one who was public with his name. 

Lois nodded and her eyes were sharp. Michael took back some of what he’d thought. Even saying it was a secret identity thing was probably enough for her to draw some sort of insights. It probably didn’t matter much. Rex was in a different boat than the rest of the team in terms of keeping a secret identity. He was visibly a metahuman, a pretty distinguishable one too. There was no hiding that.

“What were you going to ask?” Rex asked, turning to Clark. Clark looked a little thrown off guard but recovered quickly.

“Just fishing to get a line for a puff piece. You and Lord mentioned working with metahumans, and you’re the first of the team to publicly say you’re a metahuman. I was going to ask about what you were hoping to do for metahuman acceptance, what you’d say to a young metahuman seeing this at home, that kind of thing.”

“I’m glad you didn’t ask that,” Rex answered. He said it like he was joking, but his voice was a little flat. Michael took a few steps so he could see his face and saw that Rex’s eyebrows were knitted together. “I wouldn’t know what to say.”

“I’d be a good clip,” Jimmy said, “if you wanted to do something like that.”

Rex shrugged. “I’ll think about it. I don’t think I want to be the kind of guy you’re setting up to be. I don’t want to be the… image for nonhuman-looking metahumans. I don’t like how I look. I’m not proud to be a metahuman. The metahuman kids out there deserve something positive. Someone who means what they say… I don’t know. Whatever it is a guy like that would say.”

“The world isn’t positive,” Michael pointed out, speaking up for the first time since the press conference started. “Other metahumans are going to experience the same things as you. You said you think they deserve someone who means what they say. That’s honesty, and honesty’s saying it’s not always perfect.”

Rex stared at him a moment before shrugging, then repeated, “I’ll think about it.”

Michael nodded once. He didn’t care what Rex ended up doing. He didn’t know all that much about metahumans, in a social sense at least. The press conference had been insightful, at least. Metamorpho was an official member of the team, the team would get some good PR, and he’d learned a bit about his new teammate. He didn’t know what to do with the new knowledge yet, but he was confident Rex was going to be a good addition to the team.

Chapter Text

Rex hadn’t been with the Justice Gang long enough to know if this was the norm, but he was pretty sure the Hall of Justice wasn’t typically the target for supervillain attacks. 

Guy, Kendra, Michael, Rex, Joey, and Fleurette had been in the main room of the Hall, the lobby space leading to the front doors, when a flicker of movement outside caught all of their attention. It was green, and Rex thought Guy was playing some kind of prank for a moment, when the green surged upward, forming into a fist and slamming through the front windows.

Guy threw up a shield in a heartbeat, protecting the group from debris, before shifting it into something wider to begin pushing the green substance away. Michael and Kendra ran off into the Hall, presumably to get their costumes and tech. Rex let his arms and legs melt into a gummy plastic, body becoming a mess of tentacles, so he could half-usher, half-carry Fleurette and Joey to safety at the back of the Hall.

“What was that?” Fleurette asked, looking over Rex’s shoulder as they ran.

“I don’t know,” Rex told her, unfurling one tendril to place Joey in the safety of her arms. “Stay here and keep Joey safe. It looked like Guy was trying to get that thing away from the Hall. I don’t think it’s coming back, but don’t let your guard down.”

Fleurette nodded, clearly terrified but keeping it together well. Rex hated leaving her and Joey, but he’d better protect them if he helped Guy get that thing away from the Hall than if he stayed.

Rex met back up with Terrific and Hawkgirl, and they chased after Lantern together. There was a flood of green slime on the ground outside, sloshing around, but that wasn’t the big threat. About a block away, it’d solidified into something more humanoid, about as tall as the nearby buildings and ready to fight.

“Chemo?” Hawkgirl said aloud. Lantern turned his head, noticing his teammates’ arrival. 

“What?” Guy called out as he refocused on the battle, and the creature noticed Rex, Terrific, and Hawkgirl’s presence. It looked like he was on the defensive for the most part, using his shields to deflect any strikes and expanding them into walls to keep herding the monster into a better battlezone.

The trio split apart, going in different directions, as Hawkgirl answered. “Chemo. I don’t know a lot about him. Some old supervillain, I think.”

Terrific was tapping away at something as his chair swerved to keep out of Chemo’s way. “I think you’re right. A.R.G.U.S. has some files on him. He’s supposed to be in Belle Reve.”

Rex wanted to ask how Terrific had access to A.R.G.U.S. files, but decided it wasn’t really important and found he didn’t really care. “What can you tell us about him?”

“He’s more of an it. Chemical waste come to life, more than anything. The Metal Men fought him in the 70s, it looks like. It’s sentient but barely. Hard to fight, but nothing too complicated. It’s strong and durable, it can regenerate to some degree, manipulate its mass, and it’s got that acid, but nothing crazier than that.”

“Nothing crazier than that, he says,” Lantern scoffed, flying in a tight arc to avoid another swing from Chemo. “That green stuff on the ground, is that acid?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Terrific told him, but didn’t offer much else. Some of his T-Spheres spread out, ready to go on the offensive. Hawkgirl flew after them, readying her mace, and screenched as she slammed it into Chemo’s shoulder. Rex couldn’t see if it’d done much damage from where he was positioned, but he didn’t see Hawkgirl swoop back out.

“It’s- I’m stuck!” Hawkgirl called out, and Rex hurried to land on a nearby building. He shifted his arms into a stretchy material and his legs into something heavy that could ground him. He reached his arms out, giving Hawkgirl something to hold onto, and tried to pull her out. 

Rex had thought he’d manage, but he hadn’t accounted for Chemo’s strength. Chemo lost interest in both of them, focusing on swinging at Terrific and Lantern, but even without trying to hurt Rex or Hawkgirl, even just turning to strike made Rex’s arms stretch even thinner and threatened to rip his legs out of the ground. Rex tried to reinforce both of them, arms thickening at the thinnest parts and legs breaking through the building he was standing in to root into the ground. He felt a tug, and something stopped, his efforts stopping Chemo like a dog tied to a post. Rex was pretty sure the strain was more on him than Chemo, though. He didn’t think he could keep this up.

Luckily, he didn’t have to. A flash of blue and red, and Superman was hovering in the space between Rex and Chemo. He gathered up the taut cables that were Rex’s arms and pulled. Rex made sure to secure his grip on Hawkgirl, and he could feel her getting free.

“Thanks,” Hawkgirl told them as she began flapping her wings, able to keep herself up. Rex shifted into a gas, joining them in the air. “How the hell are we supposed to stop that thing if we can’t hit it?”

“I don’t think hitting it is doing much,” Superman pointed out. He glanced in Chemo’s direction, then back at Hawkgirl and Rex. “New plan. Guy and I keep hitting this thing, keeping it cornered in this part of town, while you two and Terrific try to find some way to take it down.”

The two agreed but it was easier said than done. Terrific was using his tech to pull what information he could from A.R.G.U.S. records and the internet, and Rex and Hawkgirl couldn’t exactly help with that. Rex wasn’t much of a strategist, never having fought battles like this when he was in the military, but Hawkgirl seemed to know what she was doing, and he could sound board for her at the very least.

“I think we can assume this isn’t the actual Chemo,” Hawkgirl was saying. “Chemo isn’t that… liquidy. He didn’t have that slime on the ground when anyone fought him in the past. Some kind of recreation, maybe, or just something similar.”

“So anything we can learn from how Chemo was defeated before might be helpful,” Rex concluded, “but might not end up working.”

“The real Chemo kept his form with a plastic shell. Breaking the shell meant he lost control over his form. I don’t think this Chemo’s got that,” Terrific told them, eyes still fixed on his holograms as they fed him data, “but there’s still some kind of… elasticity keeping him together.”

“Surface tension,” Rex said, and he wasn’t totally sure that was right, but he could picture it in his mind. “We have to burst his bubble.”

“Guy, try hitting it with something sharp,” Hawkgirl called, and the trio turned their attention back to the fight just in time to see Chemo pluck Lantern and Superman out of the air and shove them into his open mouth. “No!”

“Superman! Guy!” Rex stretched his arms and legs, letting tendrils carry him toward Chemo. He formed two new arms and started playing with his molecules. “What did they use to cut into Chemo in the past?”

“When the Metal Men fought him, they threw Iron at him,” Terrific reported. “Iron the Metal Man, not just plain iron. I don’t know if he was just made of iron. But they didn’t cut him when they fought him. It was just brute force.”

And they knew brute force wasn’t working. Rex didn’t think plain iron was going to work either. He formed his arms into twin carbon steel blades and slashed at Chemo’s flank as hard as he could. Chemo’s skin rippled under his blows, but his strikes failed to penetrate the surface. “It’s not working!”

“Metamorpho, look up,” Hawkgirl called. Rex’s head snapped up, and he saw Hawkgirl and Terrific circling Chemo’s head, keeping Chemo’s attention away from Rex as he worked. Inside Chemo, Rex could see some kind of green shape traveling. It was only when it surfaced, sprouting from Chemo’s mouth, that Rex realized it was one of Lantern’s constructs.

Rex snaked up Chemo’s side, climbing the monster quickly. Lantern had made some kind of car jack to crank Chemo’s mouth open. Rex climbed onto it, wrapping half a dozen tentacles around it to keep himself from sliding, and plunged his arms down Chemo’s throat. It was- Well, Rex couldn’t see or feel much. It was unpleasant to say the least, shoving his arms right into what was essentially a vat of chemicals. He could adjust his biology to make sure it wouldn’t affect him, though, and the same couldn’t be said for Lantern or Superman. They were probably fine, given the ring’s protection and Superman’s own durability, but Rex could feel his heart pounding in his head with urgency. Even if he knew logically they were fine, he couldn’t ignore the possibility that they weren’t.

He felt his hands touch something solid. Two somethings. He sprouted more tendrils for them, wrapping himself around limbs, and retracted them.  He pulled as hard as he could, Lantern and Superman practically shooting out of Chemo’s mouth. Rex held on, but Lantern dissipated the construct Rex was standing on, and their momentum sent him flying with them, arms getting tangled up in them both.

Rex made sure to release Lantern first, knowing he probably wouldn’t enjoy getting all tied up. He liked Guy and all, but they weren’t close enough for that. Lantern recovered quickly, rolling to his feet almost the moment he hit the ground. He was in the air a split second later, leaving Rex and Superman lying together in all the acid covering the city streets.

Rex knew he should let go and that he was holding onto Superman longer than he should have, but his adrenaline, his leftover fear from the maneuver, was still roaring, and Superman was just barely stirring, so he let himself have this moment of comfort. He solidified his body a bit, so he was standing next to him, and helped push Superman upright. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Superman shook himself. “Just disoriented.”

“Take a moment to get your head together,” Rex told him and withdrew his tentacles, shifting them from a polymer to metal, “because I’m going to need you to throw me as hard as you can in a moment.”

Superman’s head snapped in his direction to stare at him. “What?”

“Terrific, Hawkgirl, and I think Chemo will lose its shape if we break its exterior. I tried cutting into it, but I’m not strong enough.” By now, Rex was losing some of his more humanoid shape, most of his body becoming a single spear of metal. With Superman still getting his bearings, Rex had a little time to play with the material. Carbon steel was easy, but that was basically like trying to cut Chemo with an X-ACTO knife. Layers, he knew, were the secret to a strong metal. He experimented with different patterns with steel before trying sharper materials, working obsidian and diamond into it the best he could. He’d practiced making materials like this but never on the battlefield. He hoped it would work.

Superman straightened, standing a little more upright, and let his eyes meet Rex’s. “You sure? Let me tell you, it’s not fun being stuck in there.”

“If I get stuck, I’ll be made of metal,” Rex reminded him. “I’ll be okay. Just throw me.”

Superman nodded and picked him up. Rex compressed himself inward a bit, completely losing the humanoid shape. He made sure to have a handle for Superman to grip, but focused most of his attention on making sure he was sharp. He felt Superman float upward and call out, “Lantern, Terrific, Hawkgirl, move back!”

And then Rex was flying. Sailing through the air for a terrifying moment before hitting home. He felt himself make contact, and then something gave way under him, then he was falling, but not through air. He reformed himself, giving himself a head and limbs again, and let himself ride the wave as all the chemicals that made up their foe poured out of what had once been his body and onto the city streets.

The barrier that Lantern had put up to keep the acid contained at the start of the fight had gone down when Chemo swallowed him. Rex hadn’t noticed at the time. Lantern was working on getting it back up now that there was even more acid around them. He’d gotten most of it into a pretty big bubble, but there was still plenty on the ground. At least it was contained enough that Superman, Terrific, Hawkgirl, and Rex could stand comfortably on the ground. 

“Gross,” Hawkgirl commented and flapped her wings, spraying them all with slime almost like a dog shaking out its pelt after a bath. Terrific, Rex, and Superman all cringed away.

“Thanks,” Terrific said sarcastically, then straightened. His T-Spheres were circling around them. “I’m doing some scans, trying to figure out what this stuff is and where it came from.”

“Could have just been a freak accident,” Rex pointed out, but he wasn’t all that confident in the theory. The original Chemo, if he recalled correctly, had been an accident, but this was Metropolis. Most major attacks had some supervillain mind behind it.

Suddenly, Rex was on the ground, chest slamming into the asphalt, just barely keeping his chin from smacking into it. It took him a moment to realize something had grabbed his legs. He heard the noise of Superman using his laser vision, and Rex felt whatever had grabbed him let him go, then the feeling was back, and something was tugging at him. Rex twisted, doing his best to roll over, and saw that some of the slime had formed into a tendril, much like the ones he used himself, and was trying to drag him away from Superman, Terrific, and Hawkgirl.

Rex kicked it, turning his free foot into metal to keep it from sticking. The slime still didn’t release him. Hawkgirl stepped forward and slammed her mace into it, which seemed to do the trick. Only, another moment later, and the slime was making a grab for him.

Rex turned his legs into gas and floated upward. The slime was still going after him, but it was ignoring the others…? “It’s after me?”

“Maybe it wants revenge,” Hawkgirl suggested with a shrug. 

“It attacked the Hall of Justice,” Terrific pointed out, “so it might really be targeting Metamorpho.”

“Joey,” Superman said aloud a split second before Rex could complete the thought. He glanced at Rex, eyes wide, before flying off faster than any of them could follow. Still, Rex tried his best to hurry after him. He trusted Clark to protect his son, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility that the fight had distracted them for too long. They might be too late.

Chapter Text

It was probably nothing, just Clark’s brain grasping at something that wasn’t there, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility. Joey had been targeted before, and his kidnapping had led to his father’s imprisonment and his mother’s death. Clark didn’t know who would be after Rex, but, as Lois had pointed out in the interview with Metamorpho and the Justice Gang, Rex’s powers could be valuable. Some disgruntled LexCorp employee, maybe. Someone from LordTech, Wayne Enterprises, or Stagg Industries, perhaps, though Clark thought all of those were pretty unlikely. Still, he couldn’t risk anything happening to Joey. Not again.

Clark flew to the Hall of Justice as fast as he could. It wasn’t all that far, but it felt like every moment counted. He burst through the front doors, pausing a moment to focus his enhanced hearing, and heard a baby crying. Joey. He wasn’t usually a big crier. He was in danger.

He could have taken a few more moments to listen and figure out what was happening, but Clark wasn’t sure if he had a few more moments. He hurried through the Hall and flew right through the door to the room where Rex usually kept Joey.

A split second was all he needed to take the scene in.

Joey was there, of course, in his crib. Fleruette was standing in front of him, back to the crib with a desk lamp in hand, brandishing it like a weapon. She was crying, not audibly, but there were tears streaked down her face. She was terrified. Before them, standing between Clark and the pair, was a hulking figure. It was taller than Clark, which was saying something because he was pretty tall. The figure’s back was to him, so Clark couldn’t figure out who it was, but it was clear what was happening. This person, whoever they were, was after Joey.

Clark didn’t waste time. He reached out, grabbing the figure by his shoulders. He was wearing a deep purple suit, which pinged Clark as unusual, but he didn’t let it slow him down. He yanked the figure away and sped off with him, pulling him out of the room before slamming him down on the floor in the Hall’s main lobby. The figure looked up at him, surprise enveloping his face before settling into anger. He tried to get up, but Clark put a foot on his chest, pushing him back down. 

“Who are you?” Clark demanded, eyes meeting the intruder’s. “What do you want with Joey?”

The attacker wasn’t… Clark didn’t know. Human? He was humanoid, sure, but there were a lot of things that were just a little off. His proportions were too big, his brow ridge too thick, his head too wide, his eyes too hard. A caveman? In a suit?

“I’m not talking,” the caveman responded, glaring up at Superman. It was that moment when the Justice Gang returned. 

“Where’s Joey?” Rex asked immediately, reshaping his body to hit the ground running. He paused for a moment when he saw Superman standing over the caveman.  “Java?”

“You know him?” Clark asked. The name sounded familiar. He shook the thought away. It didn’t matter. “Joey’s with Fleurette in the back. She was protecting him.”

Rex nodded and took off running. The rest of the Justice Gang remained, surrounding Java. Guy used his ring to form chains around the caveman, letting Clark remove his foot from his chest. To Clark, Guy said, “We met this guy before. His name’s Java. He’s Simon Stagg’s butler.”

“Bodyguard,” Java corrected as Guy repositioned him to be sitting up. “And Master should’ve been my father-in-law, not Metamorpho’s! I should’ve married Sapphire! She should’ve loved me! But she loved him, and now she’s dead!”

Okay, that was a lot. The guy was worked up, clearly, enough to reveal all that with very little prompting. Or maybe he just wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Either way, they could work with that. Clark glanced at Guy, Kendra, and Michael, a thought silently being communicated between them. There was obviously some larger ploy. No way Java could have created that Chemo-replicate and arranged for it to attack the Hall of Justice. Chemo was a distraction for Java, but someone still had to set it all up.

Kendra’s eyes met Clark’s for a moment before they slid over to Java. Clark could guess what she was thinking. She crouched down in front of him, making their faces more level, and started speaking to the caveman. “That sounds tough. Losing anyone is, but someone you love? There’s nothing like it.”

Clark wondered if she was speaking from experience. It sounded like it, but he wasn’t sure. She was young. Then again, Rex was, too, in the grand scheme of things. They all were.

“Everyone deals with it different. Anger, that can be part of it. But you know it wasn’t Rex’s fault, right?” Kendra asked him. She was trying to get him talking, Clark thought, and she was doing a pretty good job setting out the bait.

“It’s his fault,” Java reaffirmed. “She shouldn’t have married him. She wasn’t supposed to marry him. But she did, so Master-”

Java cut himself off, seeming to realize what he was about to say, but he’d already said too much. A new voice cut in. “What do you mean she wasn’t supposed to marry me? What did Stagg do, Java?”

Clark looked up, seeing Rex standing in the doorway, Joey in his arms, and Fleurette a couple paces behind him. Neither Joey nor Fleurette was crying anymore, but the evidence was still there. Rex looked pissed.

“What did Stagg do, Java?” Rex repeated, practically glowering.

“You were supposed to die before you married Sapphire,” Java responded evenly. Clark got the idea he knew what he was saying, that he’d realized Kendra was trying to trick him before, and that he didn’t care. “You didn’t, though, and Sapphire married a freak instead.”

“I don’t care about that! What did Stagg do, Java?” Rex said again, voice getting louder but not quite yelling. Joey started squirming in his arms. Rex glanced down at him, then repositioned his hold on him. A little more quietly, he asked yet again, “What did Stagg do, Java? Did- Did he give Joey over to Lex Luthor?”

“Sapphire wasn’t supposed to die,” Java said, sounding almost resigned, and that was almost enough to be an admission. 

“Okay, fuck,” Guy said, breaking some of the tension of the moment. “Shit, okay. Superman, call Lois. Get someone to look through the files for anything about Stagg. I’m going to bring the caveman to A.R.G.U.S. Terrific, Hawkgirl, go pay Stagg a visit. Rex… I’m sorry, man.”

“I am, too,” Rex responded softly, and the team parted, off to do their various tasks. He looked a little lost, and Clark gently put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to the nearest seat. It was technically Kendra’s spot, but neither Rex nor Clark really cared right now.

“I-” Fleurette started, then cut herself off. She was standing just a few feet away.

“You can sit down too,” Clark offered, and she shook her head. Clark had some semblance as to why. A lot had happened, but she knew this was harder on Rex than her. She didn’t want to intrude, even though Clark was pretty sure Rex really wouldn’t notice or care if she was there or not. Still, he understood. He fished his phone out of his pocket and held it out for her. “If you want something to do, you can call Lois. Go in my contacts, her name’s Lois Lane. She’s a reporter at the Daily Planet. Our friend Jimmy got a bunch of photos of Lex Luthor’s meetings and files. Ask her to look for anything related to Simon Stagg.”

Fleurette nodded, accepting the phone, and walked away to make the call, leaving Clark alone with Rex and Joey.

Rex was still silent, leaning back against the soft chair, half in Clark’s arms. Clark hadn’t realized they’d sat down like that until now. Clark holding Rex, Rex holding Joey. Almost like they had on that couch in the pocket dimension. Only, there was a weight to it now. He wondered if he was taking advantage of Rex’s vulnerability right now, acting on his feelings when nothing was being reciprocated, or when Rex was too distracted to notice how intimate sitting like this was. He shook the thought away. Rex was his friend above all else, and he needed him right now.

“What Java said,” Rex started, and Clark cut him off.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, I know.” Rex shook himself like he’d become aware of himself again, but he didn’t pull away from Clark’s embrace. If anything, he seemed to lean more into it. “Java said Stagg- I guess we don’t know yet. Handed Joey over to Lex? Sold us to him? And Sapphire was caught in the crossfire. But… He didn’t say anything when I saw him. Didn’t look guilty. Upset, but not guilty.”

“Java blamed you,” Clark pointed out, then internally cringed. Probably not the right thing to say right now, but he had a point. “Maybe Stagg did too. Some twisted logic, even though he was the one who made the call.”

“Java said I was supposed to die. Before I married Sapph.” Rex turned his head slightly, so he was looking at Clark. “I told you about how I got my powers, right?”

“Stagg sent you to Egypt to find some artifact called the Orb of Ra. Java went with you,” Clark recited. “You found the site, but you fell. When you woke up, you were in the pit with the Orb of Ra. And there was some kind of irradiated meteorite in there. It mutated you. You changed, escaped with the Orb of Ra, and met back up with Java. Do you think…?”

“Java might’ve pushed me. Thought I’d died and left.” Rex was quiet for a moment. “I knew Java was interested in Sapphire, but I’d thought he cared enough to just want her to be happy, and she was happy with me. I did… I did wonder if Java pushed me, but… I don’t know. Decided he hadn’t, I guess. But Stagg didn’t usually send Java on these trips with me. He’d said this was going to be my last one, since I was marrying Sapph, and all, so he was sending Java to make sure he kept me safe. But he might’ve sent him to kill me before the wedding.”

“Maybe,” Clark said, turning over the idea in his mind. It was terrible, but it made sense from what Rex had told him about Stagg. Stagg didn’t want his daughter to marry someone like him. Clark, of course, didn’t agree. Rex was a great guy, but Stagg had a lot of reasons, apparently. Rex had been poor at the time, he’d been in the military, and he wasn’t interested in business. But Rex hadn’t thought Stagg hated him. He’d thought Stagg had come around. He hadn’t, though, apparently.

“Sorry,” Rex said, drawing Clark’s attention back to the two of them. “You probably don’t want to be hearing about my dead wife.”

“What? No. I don’t mind. She’s your wife. Joey’s mom. I don’t want you to pretend like she isn’t,” Clark pointed out. “Besides, we’re not together or anything.”

“We could be, though,” Rex said. Clark froze, not saying anything as Rex reached up to kiss his cheek. It was slow yet quick at the same time, the act of him leaning up taking far longer than the kiss itself. Nothing big, but the meaning behind the gesture was still there. Clark had to force himself to keep breathing. “What was it you said? I want you in my life?”

“Yeah. Are you sure?” Clark asked, ignoring the flutter of his heart. “I mean, you just had a pretty life-changing moment.”

Rex shrugged. “We’re superheroes. Isn’t that just one life-changing moment after another? But really, I mean it. I’ve been thinking about it, and I was just waiting for the right time to tell you. And after I saw you get swallowed by Chemo, then the way you flew off to make sure Joey was okay…”

“That’s just part of being Superman.”

“And Superman’s a part of you.” Rex turned his gaze away, resting his head on Clark’s shoulder. “We can talk about it more later. What us being together would mean, for Clark and Rex or Superman and Metamorpho. We’ll figure it out. I just wanted you to know how I felt.”

Clark wanted to kiss him, really kiss him, but he knew now wasn’t really the time. He was happy just sitting here together, taking comfort in each other’s presence. They needed it after the day they’d had.

“We should probably check on our friends, shouldn’t we?” Clark asked after awhile. Rex made a noise of agreement, but neither of them moved to get up. They’d spent forever sitting like this in that cell. What was a little longer?